FAMILY, FRIENDS and colleagues said farewell to sports journalist Sean Kilfeather at a funeral service laced with emotion and humour in Dublin yesterday.
From Co Sligo, Mr Kilfeather (70), died on Tuesday. He was a former boxing correspondent for The Irish Times who also covered other sports, as well as writing a popular weekly column. He was an active member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Mr Kilfeather’s remains were removed from Massey funeral home in the South Circular Road to Mount Jerome Crematorium, where they were cremated after prayers and readings by Father Joe Kennedy, of Mount Argus, and a eulogy by NUJ Irish secretary Seamus Dooley. Also present were Father Michael Devine, who had been involved with him in the Collegians football club in Sligo, and Father Pat O’Brien, chaplain to St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin.
Mr Dooley recalled humorous anecdotes from Mr Kilfeather’s years as a journalist and NUJ activist, and said: “Today, we remember Sean not for his fine journalism, or for his sterling union work, imbued as it was with a raw passion for justice and fairness, but for his remarkable personal qualities.’’
Chief mourners were his sisters Mary, Lily and Noreen, brothers Jim and Eddie, and other relatives.
The editor of The Irish Times was represented by foreign editor Patrick Smyth. Also present were sports editor Malachy Logan and FOC (chairman) of the Irish Times NUJ chapel, John Moran.
Also present were Pat Rabbitte TD and journalistic colleagues including Paddy Downey, Edmund Van Esbeck, Jim McCardle, Dermot Gilleece and Peter Byrne. Present at the funeral home were Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s aide-de-camp Comdt Michael Treacy, GAA press officer Danny Lynch, broadcaster Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and former Tipperary hurler Nickey English.
