{"id":650350,"date":"2026-10-10T07:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/650350\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T07:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:14:11","slug":"an-angel-on-earth-tears-flow-as-selfless-and-kind-mum-of-two-danielle-okeane-laid-to-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/650350\/","title":{"rendered":"‘An angel on earth’ – Tears flow as ‘selfless and kind’ mum of two Danielle O\u2019Keane laid to rest"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were heartbreaking scenes at St. Joseph\u2019s Church in Down for the funeral mass of Danielle O\u2019Keane<\/p>\n

Family and friends pictured at the funeral of Westlife fan Danielle O’Keane who died going to meet husband after a concert<\/p>\n

Danielle O\u2019Keane was a “selfless and kind” mum with a “smile that would brighten any room”, her funeral mass heard.<\/p>\n

“Devoted” mum-of-two Danielle was seriously injured following a crash on North Wall Quay, Dublin at around 11pm on Saturday night, September 26.<\/p>\n

On the night of the tragic crash, Danielle, aged 37, was on her way back to Dublin<\/a> city centre with friends after having seen Westlife<\/a> in the 3Arena when the rickshaw she was travelling in hit a curb.<\/p>\n

“Beautiful” Danielle, from Saval in Newry, Co Down, was rushed to Mater Misericordiae University Hospital where she bravely fought for her life in ICU. Danielle sadly passed away from her injuries on Thursday, October 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There were heartbreaking scenes on Friday afternoon as devastated mourners gathered in St. Joseph\u2019s Church, Sheeptown, Co Down<\/a> to pay their final respects to beloved Danielle.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Danielle was heading to Dublin city centre with some friends after having seen Westlife in the 3Arena when the rickshaw she was travelling in hit a curb<\/p>\n

The parish priest told the congregation: “This parish has seen many funerals. All of them sad. Some of them tragic. But there is a special tragedy in the death of a young person such as Danielle.<\/p>\n

“There is nothing we can say or do or think that can measure up to the loss felt by Dave, her husband, Caol\u00e1n and Cillian, their sons, and to their entire family.<\/p>\n

“Danielle was born and reared among us. She rejoiced in life, looked confidently at the years that lie ahead, and dreams of the way that things might have been. Now she is asleep.<\/p>\n

“At a moment like this, the evident grief which touches young and old alike testifies to people the sense of loss and their loving support of this not only in this small community but all over Ireland.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Danielle O’Keane with family(Image: GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

Danielle\u2019s much-loved husband Dave shared that his wife was the \u201cmost beautiful woman\u201d he had ever known and an “angel on earth”. He told mourners: “Trying to stand here and put into words what Danielle meant to me, and how amazing she was, is an impossible task.<\/p>\n

“Although we were only together for seven and a half years, we managed to build a whole life together. We had Caol\u00e1n. We bought our home. We got married, and we had Cillian.<\/p>\n

“We always used to say we’d wish we’d met earlier in life, because even the rest of our lives didn’t feel like enough. That’s what makes losing her now feel so unfair. Just when we’d built the life we’d always wanted, it’s been taken away from us.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “The term I’ve heard most over the last few days to describe Danielle has been an angel on earth, and that is exactly right.<\/p>\n

“She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, both inside and out. She’s so selfless and kind, with a smile that would brighten any room. I spent so much of our time together trying to make her smile, and I’d give absolutely anything to hear that laugh or see that smile again.”<\/p>\n

Dave added: “Danielle would do anything for anyone. There were times over the years when I’d say to her, \u2018Why are you doing that for so and so? They wouldn’t do it for you\u2019. That’s not how Danielle worked.<\/p>\n

“She didn’t do things for people because she expected something in return. She did it because she genuinely wanted to help. If there’s something she could do for someone, no matter how big or small, she would do it. That’s just the person she was.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Family and friends pictured at the funeral of Westlife fan Danielle O’Keane <\/p>\n

Dave told of the strong bond Danielle had with her two boys, and how she loved being both a mom and a wife, doing anything to make her little boys happy.<\/p>\n

“But more than anything, Danielle loved being a mom and a wife. That was her world. She was always working on our next adventure for the family.<\/p>\n

“That could be planning a holiday or a Christmas experience or something as simple as going to the park\u2026 anything just to make the boys happy.”<\/p>\n

He added: “That’s what Danielle lived for: happy, surrounded by her boys, making memories and loving her little family. That’s what makes the last 10 days so unbelievably cruel. We should be on our first family holiday right now. Instead, we’re facing the worst days of our lives.<\/p>\n

“I’ve never felt pain like this. I feel totally lost and alone without her. There’s a huge part of my life now that’s just disappeared. I don’t know how I’m supposed to carry on without my best friend. But then I look at my two beautiful boys. The reason I get up in the morning is them, Caol\u00e1n and Cillian will grow up knowing how incredible their mummy was.<\/p>\n

“They’ll know how she loved the both of them. They’ll know everything she did, every decision she made, every bit of herself she gave was for them.<\/p>\n

“They’ll hear about her. They’ll see her in the pictures. They’ll hear all the stories, and they grow. I’ll make sure they never have any doubt how much their mummy loved them. I wish there was a word stronger than love to explain how I feel about Danielle, because those four letters just don’t do it justice.<\/p>\n

“Seven and a half years was nowhere near enough. I wanted a lifetime with her. I’ll miss her, love her, carry her with me forever. I love you, Danielle.”<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were heartbreaking scenes at St. Joseph\u2019s Church in Down for the funeral mass of Danielle O\u2019Keane Family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[21753,93,32555,61,60,30817],"class_list":["post-650350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-down","tag-entertainment","tag-funerals","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tributes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650350","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=650350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}