"It is not true to say there is nothing we can do."
On a cold November night, these words echoed from a speaker at the side of a football pitch in Drumconrath, Co Meath.
Standing below, among a crowd of hundreds, people held candles as they listened to parish priest, Fr Finian Connaughton.
He told them to be certain that there was "a lot of point" in what they were doing there.
Three nights earlier, the unthinkable had happened.
Five young friends on their way to a night out lost their lives in a horrific crash just outside Dundalk.
It was as if an earthquake had struck the northeast, with the shockwaves felt in Louth, Cavan, and Monaghan.
But the devastating impact also had the effect of solidifying these communities in their support for each other.
Fr Connaughton told those attending the vigil that the families knew people were praying for them.
"They're well aware of the fact they're not on their own. This is a huge contribution to them at this time of tragedy in their lives," he said.
Their grief and disbelief crossed county boundaries to Aughnamullen near Carrickmacross and Ardee, where hundreds more attended two other vigils at the same time.
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'Five beautiful souls gone'
The five friends, all aged in their early 20s, were linked in many different ways.
Alan McCluskey and Dylan Commins, both 23 years old, were childhood friends.
Despite being from two different counties, they lived a short distance from each other.
Alan's girlfriend Chloe McGee was a 23-year-old secondary school teacher from Carrickmacross.
This is the same place in Monaghan where another friend, 21-year-old Shay Duffy was from.
He had recently completed his plumbing apprenticeship training at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
It was also here that 21-year-old Chloe Hipson, who was from Lanarkshire in Scotland, had just started studying Quantity Surveying in September.
"They were completely loved by everyone. Nobody has a bad word to say about any of them. They were all just great young people"
Among those who attended the vigils that night was Molly Duff.
A best friend and neighbour of Alan McCluskey, she painted a picture of youthful friendship that everyone can relate to.
"Every weekend we'd be with each other, away places, going for food, going on nights out. Lifts at 3am in the morning. Whoever rang, we always just went for them. We were just best friends all the time," she said.
"When you see everybody come together, you realise how many friends they have, how much support they had.
"They were completely loved by everyone. Nobody has a bad word to say about any of them. They were all just great young people," she said.
Emma Fogarty said she was also friends with Alan and Dylan.
"There's no words to describe the loss everyone is feeling tonight. It's just five beautiful souls gone," she said.
Another woman said the whole village of Drumconrath was devastated.
"You can't wrap your head around it. It's just the most devastating thing to happen this village, even the country. It's one of the worst things we've seen," she said.
‘Veil of sadness’
These women were speaking under a heavy veil of sadness that had descended on their communities this week.
It was this sense, articulated by Monsignor Shane McCaughey at mass in Carrickmacross, that captured the atmosphere no matter where you went in the area in the last week.
He also led prayers for the three other people who were injured in the crash, and the first responders who attended what was described as a very difficult scene.
No conversation with a neighbour or someone you’d meet in the shop went by, without reflecting on this terrible loss of young life.
As this darkest of weeks came to a close, funerals for four of the young people took place.
Putting words on a tragedy of this magnitude is simply an impossible task.
Monsignor McCaughey put it best.
"The enormity of five young lives lost. The potential of what they could have been. Their lives that were lying out in front of them. To be wiped out. It’s beyond words".
