IT WAS obvious in Crossmaglen yesterday that James Hughes, who was shot dead in Dundalk almost a week ago, was a deeply loved individual.
And that was demonstrated by the full-to-overflowing congregation that crowded the local St Patrick’s Church for his funeral Mass, by the great sympathy for his extended family, by the homily from the parish priest Fr Joe McKeever, and by the personal tribute delivered in the church by Armagh GAA player Óisín McConville.
Mr McConville, like the late Mr Hughes a stalwart of the hugely successful Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic football team, employed a local term of affection for his friend, probably unfamiliar to most people outside south Armagh – “feen”, as in mate or buddy.
Mr Hughes (35), a father of three boys – Lee, Tiernan and Dara – was shot dead in Dundalk in the early hours of last Sunday morning and a man has been charged with his murder.
Mr Hughes gained many honours with Crossmaglen Rangers as a left-corner forward.
He liked to describe himself as the “the best left foot in Cross”, as Mr McConville told the congregation.
“How many times did we hear that. On this day we will give you that,” he said. And, his voice cracking with emotion Mr McConville added, “His last words to me were, ‘I love you feen’. James, we love you too.”
Mr Hughes is survived by his father, also James, three brothers and two sisters, his partner Jenny, his three children and by a wide circle of extended family and friends.
His mother, Joan died in April aged 56.
“Wee James was a friend to us all, a legend to us all, a comrade to us all. We are so proud to say ‘we are your friend wee man’,” said Mr McConville.
He said Crossmaglen had lost some of its “heartbeat” with the death of Mr Hughes. “He has enriched all our lives in so many different ways – and he didn’t even know it. We all fed off James’s zest for life.”
Fr McKeever said Mr Hughes had been known and loved by all in the local community, especially by his shattered family. He was a “friend whose open-heartedness, kindness and sheer good nature made many of us blessed to have his friendship, made us in a way privileged to have known him and to have had him as a beacon of hope and joy in our own lives”.
The parish priest spoke of Mr Hughes’s “tireless humanity” and said that his precious memory must not be dishonoured by thoughts of “recrimination or incitement”.
