Mourners were reminded today at the funeral of teenage crash victim, Shaun Martin McClafferty, that the car is a ‘very potent weapon’.
Seán O’Gallchóir was speaking at the funeral of the popular 17-year-old who died following a road tragedy in the gaeltacht village of Gortahork on Friday night last.
Shaun Martin was one of two young men killed when the Suzuki Liana car they were travelling in struck the gable wall of a house at Baltoney just before 9.30pm.
His friend, Jamie Diver, who was also in the car, was laid to rest following his funeral mass in the same church yesterday.
Two more of their friends, Josh Montgomery Scanlon and Darragh Lynch, are still in hospital recovering from their injuries.
Hundreds of mourners from Gortahork and the surrounding parishes gathered in the Christ the King Church to say a final farewell to Shaun Martin this morning.
In a hard-hitting and emotional homily, the former parish priest of Gortahork, Fr O’Gallchóir, reminded young people that the community does not want to suffer any more weeks like the past one.
“I would remind people that when we get into a car that we drive with great care and with a great sense of responsibility not alone for our now precious lives but for the precious lives of those who travel along with us or who we meet along the road.
“Hopefully we resolve our best not to endanger anyone and to realise that the car, for all its glory, is a very potent weapon.
“We pray that God will join us on our every journey until we arrive at our destination safely. Today we appeal that we all do our utmost to ensure that we have no more weeks like the past week in this community – a week full of wakes.
“We pray that this past week has been a wake-up call for all of us to drive with the utmost care and do our best.
“Shaun Martin’s journey is over now and we place him into God’s hands and we ask God to support and strengthen Micheal and Sharon and their two families.”
Among the mourners were Shaun Martin’s heartbroken parents, Micheal and Sharon, and his younger sister, Sara.
Gifts brought to the altar by Shaun Martin’s friends to symbolise his life included a Lexus badge, a wooden clock he made in PCC Falcarragh and his beloved toolbox ‘that he used so often in the shed behind his house’.
Fr O’Gallchóir told mourners it was a ‘dark day’ for the parish ‘today again, as it was yesterday’ for the funeral of Jamie.
The family of Shaun McClafferty as they wait for Shauns remains to be taken into the church at Gortahork. (Noerth West Newspix)
He also pointed out that it was a tragic month for the family – on the last day of January, Sharon’s aunt passed away. That same morning their cousin, John McElhinney, passed away unexpectedly in Falcarragh. Last month, Shaun Martin’s cousin, Enya McMurrough (13), died and ‘shook the community to its foundation.’
He added that, ‘little did I know’, he would be concelebrating Shaun Martin’s funeral mass today.
“We stood here where he is (laid out) now, on Sharon and Micheal’s wedding day, our hearts full of hope and happiness,” he recalled.
“We sat here full of joy on his baptism day. We stood here for his First Communion day in 2016 and again to make his Confirmation just before Covid. Today, in the same spot as on their wedding day, his baptism, communion and confirmation, we give him back to god.
“We will stand at his graveside brokenhearted to see a sight that no parent should see – their only son going into the grave.”
He added that the McClafferty family, and the entire community, were struggling to understand ‘how cruel things happen to good people’..
But, Fr O’Gallchóir stressed, they will be strengthened by the memories of Shaun Martin’s short life.
He described him as ‘bright and able, clever and intelligent’ but, despite his good teachers, he found out that the academic route was not his way.
“The best part of his four years in PCC Falcarragh was the work experience in the garage,” he said.
“So much so that he left in fourth year and then went to Sweden to build a golf course. With that sense of adventure, he went to Sweden and talked his dad into going with him. His parents were so important to him. It was a happy Scandinavian sojourn until his dad had to come home, and he came home shortly after.”
He described Shaun Martin as a ‘big hearted softie’ who followed his father home to join ‘Source’ in Dublin.
“He loved it there, but Micheal was there to keep an eye on him and cook for him”.
Fr O’Gallchóir said Shaun Martin got a ‘big thrill’ of coming home from Dublin every weekend.
“He had a short life story, but thousands of memories to bring you strength,” he told his parents and sister.
“You will also get strength from this community, from the hundreds here today and the thousands who came to Gortahork for his wake.”
He added it was hard to believe that three members of the local Cloughaneely Band have lost a child in the last month.
“It’s been a terrible time for the band,” Fr O’Gallchóir said.
Referring to their trip to America, he added: “Little did they know the Fairtytale of New York would be followed by the Nightmare of Baltoney.”
He paid tribute to the young men and women whose cars were parked side-by-side bearing Shaun Martin and ‘Slicks’ (Jamie Diver) names.
Shaun Martin’s mother, Sharon, ended the Mass with a short poem about her beloved son.
She said he touched the lives of all he knew: “Not gone, not out of sight, Shaun Martin shines and endless light.”
Shaun Martin’s remains were carried from the church to the adjoining cemetery where he was laid to rest.
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