An interface area in Derry has been united in grief by the tragic death of a teenager in a car crash.

Youths from the strongly loyalist Tullyally area donned Celtic shirts on Monday evening as a crowd of almost 200 formed a homecoming guard of honour for the body of Ciaran Doherty (17), from the nationalist Currynierin estate.

Ciaran died in hospital on Sunday a week after a car crash on the Ardmore Road.

Pals from both sides of the divide donned the striped shirts bearing the teen's nickname, 'Walla', while others wore Rangers jerseys.

A community worker said people were staggered by the show of solidarity among young people in an area infamous for sectarian rioting.

Mickey Carlin, a long-time community worker in Currynierin said that Ciaran's family had been left devastated by his death.

"The whole area is in shock. It has affected the whole estate. He was a young boy and his parents just don't know what to do with themselves — they are in bits," he said.

"He was a likeable young fella and this is a small, close knit area.

"On Monday night, when the body was coming home, a big crowd of boys came over from Tullyally. Some of them wore Rangers tops and some of them even put on Celtic jerseys — it was fantastic to see. They were lined the whole way up the estate as the coffin was brought back to the house. All you could see were Celtic jerseys, it was unbelievable. He was Celtic mad.

"A lot of boys had tops with Ciaran's nickname, 'Walla' written on them. It just shows you how well he was thought of, bringing people together like that. You would never have seen anything like that 10 years ago.

"The support shown from both sides of the community has been a big help to his parents."

Source Belfast Telegraph