At Ennis District Court on Friday morning, Joe Heffernan, of Cappagh Beg, Barefield was remanded in custody to reappear before the court on June 24, following a garda application. Mr Heffernan has been charged with the murder of Eoin Ryan (21) of Newhall, Ballyea this week. The defendant was not in court but his solicitor, John Casey consented to the application in his absence.

It has been established that the late Mr Ryan was socialising with friends at Cruise’s Bar on Monday night but left the area at approximately 2am. His body was located by gardaí on Tuesday morning in the Cappagh Beg area of Barefield and his body was later removed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, where a post-mortem examination took place.
Gardaí confirmed that the 21-year-old University of Limerick student had never come to adverse attention and was not known to them.Forensic examinations of the scene in Barefield were concluding at the time of going to press.An incident room has been set up at Ennis Garda Station in respect of this matter and anyone who may have further information is asked to contact 065 6848100.
The body of Eoin Ryan was buried on Friday morning following funeral mass at Ballyea Church.

A community in grief

The Barefield community has been left reeling and a family devastated as the body of 21-year-old Eoin Ryan was brought home for the final time following his tragic death this week. 
Tributes to the bright and intelligent young man have been made by family friends and neighbours, who are still trying to come to terms with the loss.
The news, which reached Newhall and Ballyea on Tuesday evening, was described by locals as a bolt of lightening which struck the community, leaving them numbed.
A friend of the Ryan family told The Clare Champion it was “an awful tragedy to happen here in the parish”.
“We are all devastated and poor Don and Phil [Eoin’s parents] are just numbed by the whole thing. It’s just a bolt of lightening. The chap was perfect on Monday night and had a lovely weekend with his family and went out to enjoy himself on Monday night and this befell him; it’s total devastation to the whole parish as far as I’m concerned, to the whole area. He was a lovely young fella. He had all his life in front of him. We are all numbed by it, it’s terrible. We’ve all got pains in our stomachs since this happened.”
Eoin had just completed his exams for his final-year degree in UL, where he studied law, and his intention was to further his studies in the form of a masters. He has been described by those that knew him and by his teachers as a very bright young man.
“He did a lot of reading and was very big into history and this was a big part of his life. He was a very nice, mild young fella. He was very popular and well liked with anyone he met, he always had a smile on his face, he was always a bright vibrant fella, he never had a sour face and he left that mark on both young and old,” one person commented.
His national school teacher and neighbour Eddie Liddy said, “Eoin was very academic, very clever and bookish. They are a fabulous family, everybody is just devastated for them. The community is in a state of total shock. It’s happening every day away from us and then it happens here, it’s just unbelievable. Everyone here is just reaching out to the family, trying to help them get through this. They would be great community people and supported the people locally. People are now really rallying around them. He was a lovely lad. He will be sadly missed in the community and our heart goes out to his family from the whole community.”
Fr Jerry Carey of Barefield Parish said he wished to “express the sadness and the shock of the people of Barefield”.
“The atmosphere here is one of shock and sadness that this has hit our community.
“We are painfully aware of the fact that this happens throughout the country and you hear about it but you never actually think it will hit our own place. I would just like to acknowledge that Barefield is typical of most rural communities, it is tight knit, people know each other and when you know people, it hurts all the more and that’s the truth.”
Eoin  is survived by his father Don, his mother Phil, older siblings Lisa and Daniel and extended family.