MOURNERS came out in their hundreds yesterday to attend the last of eight funerals following a two-car crash on the Inishowen Peninsula last Sunday night.
The funeral of 23-year-old James McEleney took place in St Mary’s Church in Clonmany, the third funeral to have taken place in the church in two days.
Parish priest Fr Fintan Diggan welcomed the families of the other crash victims and prayed for comfort, support and peace to all those who were “worn out and wearied” by all the sadness felt in this community.
“Through these days as we’ve been praying and gathered together, members of all the families who have been affected have come to the various funeral masses because they’re all associated with the same grief. Grief doesn’t discriminate between individuals and families, they share the same pain and the same suffering,” he said.
Fr Diggan offered his condolences to chief mourners James’s mother Philomena, his brothers Shane, Robert and Philip and his sister Kathleen.
He gave tribute to James as someone who, in his “23 short years”, had been a great friend and comforter to relations and friends.
He said James, who worked in guttering, had been a hard grafter, an accolade which he noted had been repeated at many of the funerals of six of his young friends in recent days.
James’s love for his work was reflected in the gifts which were brought to the altar which included his work belt, containing a hammer and pliers and a miniature blue Ford Transit van, similar to the one he used to go to work in although this one bore his name.
Two framed photos, one of James with his girlfriend, Lisa Hand, and another of him and his family on the occasion of his twin nieces’ christening for whom he acted as sponsor.
The last of the gifts was a CD by singer Mike Denver of whom James, and his friends were big fans. Mr Denver, who also played at James’s friend Ciarán Sweeney’s funeral yesterday, played three songs at the mass. Absent Friends was performed as the coffin was brought to the altar.
His uncle Philly gave a short reflection in which he spoke on behalf of James’s mother and siblings to offer condolences and prayers to all those killed on Sunday night as well as the driver of the black Passat who remains in intensive care in Letterkenny hospital.
“We would also like to pray for Shaun Kelly and his family through this difficult time. We pray that Shaun makes a full recovery and wish to let him know that our door is always open for support for both him and his family,” he said.
He thanked all the emergency services, hospital staff, undertakers, neighbours and the Inishowen community who had comforted them in recent days. “It makes us proud to be part of such a loyal and caring community.” James was, his uncle said, a “true home bird”.
“Despite trying to fly the nest to America, he was back within two weeks to his mother,” he said, a rare ripple of laughter emanating from the congregation.
“He was a performer, a showman who loved to put a smile on people’s face.”
James was buried in the nearby new cemetery in Clonmany beside his brother Daniel who died in 2004.