{"id":474839,"date":"2026-05-30T14:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/474839\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T14:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:24:09","slug":"truly-beautiful-soul-alex-coughlan-remembered-at-funeral-after-blanchardstown-assault-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/474839\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Truly beautiful soul\u2019: Alex Coughlan remembered at funeral after Blanchardstown assault \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The funeral of a man who died from injuries following an assault in Blanchardstown<\/a>, Co Dublin<\/a>, heard he was a \u201ctruly beautiful soul\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alex Coughlan (37) died in hospital on May 20th, with his funeral held on Saturday at Staffords Funeral Home in Ballyfermot.<\/p>\n

Declan Croghan, who officiated the ceremony, said: \u201cEveryone who is gathered here, who\u2019s watching online, is truly heartbroken for Alex and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Coughlan\u2019s sister, Zara, gave the eulogy, in which she thanked those who had impacted his life, especially \u201chis pride and joy\u201d Filimon, a child who he was \u201clike a dad\u201d to.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex was more than just my brother, he was my best friend, my partner in mischief and the glue of the family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know how I\u2019m standing here without you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She remembered the \u201claughter and joy\u201d he brought to their family, recalling one time in particular from when he grew out his hair.<\/p>\n

Although his family wanted him to cut it, he replied, \u201cI was going to cut it but then it started doing things and I wanted to see what more things it would do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was always a method to Alex\u2019s madness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She recalled how the two of them would laugh at times when \u201cwe definitely shouldn\u2019t be\u201d. <\/p>\n

For instance, when they were at funerals together, \u201che would always look at me and say, \u2018should we clap?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mourners were then led in a round of applause \u201cin honour of Alex\u201d. <\/p>\n

She promised to think about him \u201ctwice as much as I already will forever,\u201d when \u201ca whiskey is poured, a joke is made or a rugby match is on\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the day of the funeral, May 30th, was also Alex\u2019s birthday, the officiant led mourners in singing Happy Birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will be missed more than words can say, that you will be remembered and cherished. And that our love for you will never end,\u201d said Croghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us all put him in our hearts and keep him in our thoughts. Let today, the 30th of May, be Alex\u2019s day. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet us pledge that his death will not be for nothing, that we will strive as a community to make sure that the circumstances that led to Alex\u2019s death will not be repeated. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, we say farewell to a truly beautiful soul.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not allow a terrible act that took Alex\u2019s life to overshadow his light, to overshadow his life … Alex\u2019s light will shine through the darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family members carried up gifts of a Leinster hat and a rugby ball for his love of the sport, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, a holy medal and his slippers.<\/p>\n

The ceremony was followed by a private cremation.<\/p>\n

Two 16-year-old boys, who cannot be named as they are juveniles, have appeared before Dublin District Court charged with assault causing serious harm and robbery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The funeral of a man who died from injuries following an assault in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin, heard he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[613,615,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-474839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-blanchardstown","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}