Rally driver Dáire Maguire had an ‘unstoppable joy and unending love’ for his family, priest tells mourners at his funeral

Dáire Maguire’s passion for his family and for motorsport were remembered at his funeral Mass on Thursday as rally drivers from all over the country gathered to pay tribute to him.

Mourners were urged to celebrate the 46-year-old’s “unstoppable joy and unending love” for his wife, Breda, and his teenage children, Meghan and Christopher, who were at the Sligo Stages Rally last Sunday to support him when they received a telephone call alerting them to the tragedy.

Mr Maguire was co-driver of a car which crashed on a narrow country road near Ballymote, also claiming the life of Cavan driver Gene McDonald, whose funeral will take place on Friday.

Fr Saghar Sabir told the congregation in the packed Church of the Immaculate Conception in Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, of how helpless loved ones feel at any loss but especially when there is “no chance to care and prepare, no chance to even say goodbye”.

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But he pointed out that the Lisnaskea man was “inordinately proud of his wife and two children” who were always there to support his love of rallying.

“They totally supported him all the time, in the good times and in the not-so-good, as happened on Sunday last in Sligo.

“They would have watched him at the various stages of the rally and met him at service [area]. They were on their way to meet him coming in on Sunday but God ordained otherwise,” said Fr Sabir.

He told how Mr Maguire called his family the “bears” and when his mother asked him why, he said, “because bears stick together.”

“They were like that. Where one went they all went,” said the priest.

As Mr Maguire’s funeral cortege travelled to the church from his parents’ house on Thursday morning, members of the rallying community, including Aiden Harper, the president of Motorsport Ireland, formed a guard of honour. A number of rally cars were parked outside the church in recognition of his love for the sport. Some mourners wore motorsport jackets.

Also lining the road were colleagues from Cadco, the bathroom showrooms in Lisnaskea were Mr Maguire worked, who described him as “one of life’s true gentleman” in a warm tribute following the crash.

Mourners heard Breda had joined her husband as an employee at Cadco just two weeks ago.

During the Mass prayers were said for Gene McDonald (35) and those who mourn him. There was also a prayer for “all rally drivers and navigators and everyone involved in motor sports, that they will be kept safe wherever the road takes them”.

[ Men killed in Sligo rally event had decades of experience in sport ]

Fr Sabir told those who had gathered to pay tribute to the man who took up rallying over 20 years ago that when tragedy strikes in our lives, “we are left with a sudden and unexpected hole in our hearts”.

He added: “To lose a much-loved husband, a greatly loved father, brings up emotions no doctor can heal.”

But he said the Mass was a chance to say goodbye to Mr Maguire and “to reflect on the life he lived, and celebrate the joy he brought to those who knew him”.

He said Dáire and Breda, who were married in 2004, shared a love of music.

Mr Maguire’s coffin was wheeled out of the church to the strains of Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars as Breda and their two children kept their hands on the casket.