A Dublin man who was working in Texas while on a J1 visa has died following a road incident last Friday night.<\/p>\n
John Kirby, who was in his early 20s, from south county Dublin is understood to have been knocked down by a truck in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n
Mr Kirby, who was a business and marketing graduate, suffered serious head injuries and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died last Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Dublin native had been in Texas, with three Blackrock College school friends.<\/p>\n
In tribute, Blackrock College Rugby Football Club said Mr Kirby was involved in an accident in Austin, Texas last Friday \u201cwhere he was on his J1\u201d along with a friend and fellow rugby player.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they are \u201caware of the case and are providing consular assistance. The Department does not comment on the details of individual cases\u201d.<\/p>\n
The director of Blackrock College RFC, Michael Hearty added his condolences saying it is with \u201cdeep sadness\u201d that we share the news of the passing of John Kirby, who tragically died in Austin, Texas, following an accident last week.<\/p>\n
Mr Hearty said that Mr Kirby was a \u201cmuch-loved member\u201d of the Blackrock College RFC family, and his loss has been felt \u201cprofoundly\u201d across the club and all teams.<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cI first met John in the summer of 2019 during pre-season training. Immediately I was drawn to his infectious personality and big smile. He was charismatic, witty and very popular.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the moment he pulled on the Rock jersey, he embodied everything our club stands for, commitment, friendship, and heart. He was a talented player, a dedicated teammate, and above all, a guy who brought joy to everyone around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The director explained that Mr Kirby had that \u201cspecial kind of presence\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big, infectious smile and a quick sense of humour that could lift the whole dressing room. Whether it was during training on a horrible wet Tuesday night or over a pint in the clubhouse, he had a way of making people laugh and feel included.<\/p>\n
“He was the sort of teammate you were always happy to see walk through the door,\u201d Mr Hearty noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis kindness, and sense of fun left a mark on everyone who knew him. The word no, wasn’t in his vocabulary.<\/p>\n
“We waved him off in early March with envy as he headed off on his year abroad. Never did we think he wouldn’t return. We are heart broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Kirby will be remembered fondly for his smile, his laughter, and his spirit, which will forever remain a part of our club,\u201d highlighted Mr Hearty.<\/p>\n
His funeral arrangements are yet to be announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Dublin man who was working in Texas while on a J1 visa has died following a road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-88035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}