A Britain’s Got Talent star has tragically died at the age of 18.
Órán McConville was a talented footballer and singer whose school choir participated in the ITV competition BGT back in 2017.
The choir reached the semifinals in the year Toki Myers won the show.
McConville competed as part of St. Patrick’s Primary School, singing Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ in an audition that impressed head judge Simon Cowell.
After hearing the devastating news of his passing, people have taken to social media and paid tribute.
One person wrote: “Heartbreaking, RIP young man.”
A second said: “RIP, fly high little man.”
“My prayers and love to his mum and brother, may they find the strength to cope with this absurd tragedy at this very difficult time,” commented somebody else.
A fourth penned: “Thinking of his whole family at such a sad time. RIP.”
McConville died just six weeks after the untimely death of his father, Paddy.
The teenager was killed in a car crash and pronounced dead after the accident. He was reportedly sitting in the front passenger seat of a grey Volkswagen Golf when a collision occurred in the early morning of April 5.
The driver was arrested at the scene.
Parish priest Charles Byrne described McConville as a ‘natural performer’ who ‘got away with more mischief than most’ throughout his life, as per MailOnline.
“With a smile like his, who could be cross for long?” he said.
“At this time, we are all lost for words. Words are woefully inadequate to express the pain and the sorrow in our hearts that we have for you.”
Drumgath GAC, the Gaelic Athletics club where the teenager played and later coached young athletes, described him as ‘kind, gentle, full of humor, and always up for a chat.’
McConville’s older sister Rachael was killed after being hit by a Volkswagen people carrier in 2009.
Priest Stephen Ferris, who was with the McConville family when Rachael died in hospital, said her passing ‘traumatized’ the local area.
He told the Belfast Telegraph at the time: “Rachael was a happy child. She was intelligent and talented. She loved her family and her friends, and she had tremendous potential.
“She was living life and enjoying it to the full. Her death has traumatized our close-knit, country parish; it has numbed everyone.”
McConville’s mom went on to write a book about her child’s death, titled ‘My Beautiful Daughter, My Beautiful Friend.’ It explored the family’s journey through grief.
The 2017 book was followed by ‘Rachael’s Rainbow: Never Give Up on Your Dreams’ and the spiritual book ‘Time to Change’ in 2020.