{"id":674036,"date":"2026-11-03T20:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674036\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T20:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T20:52:11","slug":"the-brightest-light-never-truly-fades-ciara-mageean-remembered-at-funeral-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674036\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The brightest light never truly fades\u2019: Ciara Mageean remembered at funeral \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ciara Mageean was an \u201cinspirational human being\u201d who represented the \u201cvery best of us\u201d, mourners at her funeral Mass were told.<\/p>\n

Members of Portaferry GAA Club formed a guard of honour outside St Patrick\u2019s Church on Tuesday, just a few hundred metres from the house where the Irish Olympian and European champion runner grew up in Co Down<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Teenage GAA players wept as they stood in line and watched the 34-year-old\u2019s coffin being carried by her husband, Thomas Moran, who she married three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were the love of her life,\u201d celebrant Fr Martin Kelly told Moran, as he sat in the front row of the church flanked by Mageean\u2019s family, including her parents Christopher and Catherine.<\/p>\n

Symbols of the runner\u2019s life, including the gold European medal she won for the 1,500m in Rome two years ago, were presented at the beginning of the service by her siblings, Brendan, Maire and Nuala. Her beloved dog\u2019s leash was also brought forward.<\/p>\n

Mageean died on Sunday having been diagnosed with cancer in May of last year. She and Moran held a second wedding celebration in Co Louth the weekend before her death. <\/p>\n

Hundreds of mourners packed into the small church with pews filled with the blue and gold of the GAA club, where Mageean had excelled in camogie from childhood.<\/p>\n

The royal blue uniforms of Assumption Grammar, Ballynahinch, where Mageean was a past pupil, lined the narrow staircase as schoolgirls cried silently.<\/p>\n

Outside, the church grounds were filled with hundreds more mourners.<\/p>\n

There was total silence as the funeral cortege arrived.<\/p>\n

\"Aides-de-campAides-de-camp for the President and Taoiseach at the funeral of Ciara Mageean. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

President Catherine Connolly<\/a> and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> were represented by their aides-de-camp at the service.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland\u2019s First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/a> and SDLP leader Claire Hanna also attended, as well as Irish Olympian Rhys McClenaghan and GAA president Jarlath Burns.<\/p>\n

Mageean has had a \u201cpowerful influence\u201d on people around the world since her diagnosis, mourners heard.<\/p>\n

Fr Kelly recalled first meeting her as an altar server at St Patrick\u2019s church when she was eight years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven at that stage she was committed to her task, commitment was to play a big part in her life, and hail rain or snow she always turned up in good time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"IrishIrish athlete and European champion Mark English attending the funeral of Ciara Mageean. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

She had brought \u201csheer joy\u201d to the people of Portaferry and he recalled the moment she stepped off the Strangford ferry to cheers after winning a silver medal at the world under-18 meeting in Canada.<\/p>\n

His final meeting with Mageean was at the Marie Curie Hospice in Belfast last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked her what special graces she needed at that time. We talked about acceptance and how hard it was for her,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke of trust, trusting how well she was loved by Tommy, all her family and friends and people and colleagues all over Ireland and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being gravely ill, Mageean asked the 85-year-old former parish priest to go for a walk around the streets after he had anointed her.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe funeral of Ciara Mageean at St Patrick\u2019s Church, Portaferry, Co. Down. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the way down, she knew I was struggling and she said, \u2018let me link you\u2019,\u201d he told mourners.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my happiest moments and memories is that of Ciara Mageean linking my arm as we walked back to her room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly singled out one of the many tributes since her death, which he said encapsulated her spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, amid the darkness and gloom of our world, a bright light emerges \u2013 one that radiates warmth, kindness and positive energy, making our world a better, brighter and much nicer place to call home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCiara Mageean was one such light.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kelly, she was a \u201ctruly remarkable, immensely talented and inspirational human being whose courage, humility, infectious smile and indomitable spirit touched hearts far beyond the world of athletics\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe represented the very best of us, not simply through her extraordinary sporting achievements but through the warmth, dignity and humanity she brought to everything she did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the close of the service, he added: \u201cThe brightest lights never truly fade. Their warmth lives on in the hearts of those they touched.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe cemetery following the funeral of Ciara Mageean in Portaferry, Co. Down. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciara Mageean was an \u201cinspirational human being\u201d who represented the \u201cvery best of us\u201d, mourners at her funeral…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14937,21753,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-674036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ciara-mageean","tag-down","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674036","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=674036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}