Mark Costello

THE 20-year-old amateur rider John O’Connor was laid to rest on Wednesday after losing his life in a road accident on Saturday evening.

From Lismire outside Newmarket in Co Cork, O’Connor died at the scene when the car he was driving collided with a coach on the Mallow-Killarney road, close to Cork Racecourse. Weather conditions were difficult at the time.

He is survived by his parents, Mary and James, brother Barry and sister Maeve.

O’Connor rode six winners last season for trainers Ivor Kingston, Terence Leonard, Matthew Daly, Kieran Roche, Michael Kennedy and Patrick Doyle. He finished second in the novice riders’ table. He also rode for Eugene O’Sullivan and was regarded as one of the most promising young riders on the circuit. This season he had already ridden for 21 different handlers.

A minute’s silence was observed at Ballyvodock point-to-point on Sunday, where he had been due to ride, and jockeys riding at Nenagh point-to-point and Leopardstown wore black armbands as a mark of respect.

Sonya Tobin of Lismire described Wednesday’s funeral as “one of the saddest and moving funerals I have ever been to”. O’Connor’s sister Maeve gave a “most heartfelt eulogy that even had grown men with tears in their eyes”.

Leading riders Derek O’Connor and Jamie Codd paid tributes to their lost colleague while another friend, Maxine O’Sullivan, posted on social media: “I can’t believe I am writing this but my family, my friends and I have lost one of the best pals we could ever ask for, we will miss him so much, he was one in a million. The perfect gentleman.”

The male driver of the bus involved in the incident was taken to Cork University Hospital, but his injuries are not said to be life-threatening. The three passengers on the bus were unharmed.