Gardaí maintained a presence at the funeral in Dublin yesterday of murdered drug-dealer Mark Glennon who was gunned down at his home in Hartstown in the west of the city last Wednesday week.
Garda uniformed and plainclothes patrols policed the streets around St Philip's Church, Mountview, during the service yesterday morning.
These were backed by the Garda helicopter and sniffer dogs.
Fr Des Hogan told mourners that, while he knew the Glennon family well, he did not know the dead man or his brother, Andrew, who was murdered in Clonee, Co Meath, last April as part of the same feud between rival drugs gangs which claimed his brother last week.
"It seems like only last week that we were here in similar circumstances for Andrew's mass and here we are again," Fr Hogan said.
"When Andrew's funeral took place, Mark came to me and shook my hand and said 'I suppose you've heard all about me, Father'. Like Andrew, if Mark was having a tea party I would not have been top of the invites list."
Fr Hogan said now that it had come to the time to tell the story of Mark Glennon's "relatively young life, everybody who knew him would have a different story to tell.
"I could write a chapter about the things that I had been told about him, but it would not be fair for me to judge him. Only God could judge him because only God knew him from the moment of his conception until his violent death last Wednesday week. And the God that judges him is a merciful and loving God. If God could write one final chapter in the story of his life, he would appeal for an end to the sadness, the occasional sadness that has visited our parish."
He said many in the community would remember Mark Glennon from the time he came to live there from Ballymun, where he was born. They would recall him attending local schools and later going to work as a roofer. That was before he made certain decisions and "his life took a turn and things started to go wrong".
A crowd of about 250 gathered at the church for the funeral mass yesterday. The remains of the 32-year-old father of one were then taken by horse-drawn hearse to Mulhuddart Cemetery for burial.
The mourners were led by the dead man's parents, Frank and Jackie Glennon, and his partner and the couple's daughter.
Glennon was shot four times by a lone gunman at about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon last week in the front garden of his home at Hazelwood Crescent, Hartstown. Gardaí believe they know the identity of the 22-year-old gunman, a rival drug-dealer who is also from the west Dublin area.
Officers investigating the case have expressed their satisfaction with progress to date. They have searched a number of houses in the west Dublin area but have made no arrests.
Gardaí are working on the theory that Glennon was shot dead by the same criminal gang that killed his brother.
The dispute in which he was involved was drug-related but had escalated into a bitter personal feud in recent months.
On August 27th an attempt was made on Mark Glennon's life. A gunman went to his home and opened fire with a .45 revolver. Five shots were discharged, but nobody was wounded.
Two weeks ago Glennon was believed to have been involved in a gun attack on a house in Blanchardstown sprayed with up to 40 bullets. These shootings were tit-for-tat incidents and are linked to last week's murder.
Glennon was described by Garda sources as a significant player on the Dublin drugs scene. He and his brother, Andrew, were once members of the notorious Blanchardstown-based "Westies" gang.
