Young people comforted each other as they waited outside the Church of St Therese in Mount Merrion yesterday for the removal of the remains of Mr Brian Murphy.
The 18-year-old died last week as a result of head injuries he sustained outside Club Anabel at the Burlington Hotel after he was attacked by a group of young men.
The coffin was carried into the church followed by his sisters Clare and Bronagh, and his younger brother Robert. Mr Denis Murphy, Brian's father, supported his wife Mary as they walked into the church.
Hundreds of people attended the ceremony to offer their condolences. Father Brian Lawless, curate of the parish, described the death as "a nightmare" and said it was hard to believe or understand what had happened. "It challenges the very meaning and purpose of life and it taxes our faith," he said.
Also present on the altar yesterday for the ceremony were Father Gerard Tyrrell, the chaplain of UCD, where Mr Denis Murphy studied, Father Joe Brennan of Gonzaga College, where the deceased completed his Junior Certificate, and Father Tom Nash of Blackrock College.
Father Lawless said there was no easy answer or consolation to offer and "no satisfactory sound bite to soften the pain of this loss". He described Mr Murphy as a "unique" teenager who was full of life and vitality. "He had the world at his feet and he reached out and grasped life with two hands." Mr Murphy was popular because he always had time for others.
Father Lawless said he hoped the pain of losing the teenager would eventually turn into gratitude for his life.
Students from several south side secondary schools attended the removal ceremony, including girls from Alexandra College and Mount Anville and boys from Gonzaga College, Terenure College and Blackrock College.
Also present were former pupils of Clongowes Wood College in Co Kildare, who were socialising with Mr Murphy before he was attacked by the group of former pupils from another secondary school.
TDs Mr Seamus Brennan of Fianna Fail and Mr Alan Shatter of Fine Gael also attended the ceremony.
Mr Murphy's funeral will be held today, after 11 a.m. Mass, to Mount Jerome Cemetery.