Hundreds of mourners packed into St Tighearnach’s Church, in Cullohill, Co Laois, on Tuesday afternoon for the funeral of the young man who drowned in a swimming pool in Zakynthos, Greece, last week.
Fr Bobby Fletcher PP, who is a cousin of the family, said Rory Deegan (22) was ‘”a young man with a fabulous smile”.
He said people were “consumed by his presence and devastated by his absence”, adding that “memory is a friend in time of grief”. He said that “while a woman who loses her husband is called a widow and a man that loses his wife is called a widower, there are no words for parents who lose a son”.
A number of symbols were brought to the altar of the church where once Rory served as an altar boy. These symbols included a Harps GAA jersey, a Liverpool jersey, an airline ticket to symbolise his love of travel, his treasured Nike runners and a Centra uniform from his parents’ Centra Shop in Urlingford, Co Kilkenny.
His bother Conor recited the Liverpool Anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone while his brother Barry sang Christy Moore’s Ride On.
In a moving tribute, Rory’s father Joe thanked the local community who have “lifted us up and carried us over the last few days”.
Addressing young people, he said “live your best life. Use every talent. Life is fragile, never take it for granted but treasure it”.
After mass, Rory’s remains were interred in the adjoining cemetery.
He previously attended Coláiste Mhuire in Johnstown, Co Kilkenny, and was a student at the Technological University of Shannon in Limerick. He was in Greece with friends when the tragedy occurred on Sunday, June 25th.
Rory’s death is one of three Irish fatalities in Greece in a little over a week. Students Max Wall and Andrew O’Donnell died on the Greek Island of Ios last weekend. Both had recently completed their Leaving Certificate at Saint Michael’s College in Dublin.