Published: Wednesday, 28th July, 2010 6:00pm

Young Drum biker to be laid to rest

The funeral will take place tomorrow (Thursday) of a young Drum man who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident at the weekend.

Owen McManus, from Belrea, Drum, died when the motorbike he was riding went out of control at a sharp bend and hit a telegraph pole on the R747 between Tinahely Co. Wicklow and Hacketstown, Co. Carlow, just after midday on Sunday July 25. An ambulance rushed him to Naas General Hospital, but he passed away shortly afterwards.

The 23-year-old had recently moved to Dublin and had been out as part of a group of around five other motorcyclists on the route. Owen was a regular participant of bike races.

Owen's family - his parents Owen and Janet, his two younger sisters Lisa and Megan, and his partner Leoni Kirwan are heartbroken by his untimely death. Owen Snr is very well known in GAA circles, at both club and inter-county level, as the McManus family have a long association with Clann na nGael.

The family are very well known throughout South Roscommon and Athlone, and have many family connections in the area.

Owen was a much-loved and popular figure on the biking scene and his parents have requested that his friends turn up to the funeral on their bikes as a tribute to their son, who died doing something he loved.

Over 400 tributes to Owen were posted on www.biker.ie, a website forum for motorcycle enthusiasts, since the tragic news broke on Sunday night.