A father-of-one who was on a Christmas night out in Cork city with a friend died after he jumped in the river Lee while intoxicated in an act of “exuberance which went tragically wrong”, an inquest has heard.

The body of Shea McCabe (25) was recovered on St Stephen’s Day last year. The remains of the Co Tyrone man were located 500 metres from where he went in to the water in the early hours of the morning on December 18th.

The evidence of Chris O’Donnell, a long-time friend of the deceased, was read in to the record at Cork Coroner’s Court today.

He said that on December 17th, 2025, he had gone to a bar in McCurtain Street in Cork city with McCabe. The two men left the bar at about midnight with plans to go to another pub.

O’Donnell said they were on Brian Boru Bridge when McCabe said something along the lines of “Would it be funny if I jumped in?”

“I asked him if he could swim and he told me ‘No’. I told him to ‘wise up and come to the bar.’ I walked on a bit and I turned around and he was getting ready to leap into the water.”

O’Donnell said McCabe dropped his belongings before he jumped in.

“He was about 15 metres out from the bridge when he popped up and called my name.”

He said they were both after consuming a few pints but that the shock of what had occurred quickly sobered him up.

Witness Paula O’Shea told gardaí she saw the two men on Brian Boru Bridge that night.

“Over the course of a minute the guy in black stepped in to the lower part of the railing. He did this at least twice. Then he pulled himself over the railing. I could tell he did it intentionally.”

O’Shea contacted the emergency services, as did a separate passerby, Gerard Barrett, who was on a night out with friends when he saw movement in the river.

He and his friends attempted to free life buoys.

Another witness, Dan McCabe, said he saw the head of a man “bopping in and out of the water” and called 999.

The inquest was told that a nine-day search operation was carried out until the remains of the deceased were found. Members of the Coast Guard, Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery, Cork city firefighters, Mallow Search and Rescue, Irish Search Dogs and Blackwater and Cork Sub Aqua clubs’ recovery teams all played a role in the search.

The body of the deceased was located on December 26th, 2025, via the use of a sonar radar. Two divers recovered the body under 12 metres of water.

Dr Christoforus Kolentinis carried out a postmortem on the deceased. He said an exact cause of death could not be ascertained due to the advanced decomposition of the body.

Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn said the death occurred because of “bravado brought on by too much alcohol”.

He asked the family of the deceased to tell him a little bit about Shea McCabe. A family member said “he was a good dad” to a young boy called Cahan.

The Coroner offered his heartfelt condolences to the McCabe family. A verdict of misadventure was recorded in the case.