A Dundalk man who was "passionate" about clay pigeon shooting, and who represented Ireland in the World Cup, is having his ashes put into shotgun cartridges and fired over clay pigeon shooting grounds across the country.
"We thought he was joking about it when he said it first," said Mr Tony Mullen's widow, Elizabeth, yesterday, "but he said it a few times and that he was really serious when he also said it to his friends and we abided by his wishes and gave some of his ashes to be used as he asked."
Mr Mullen, who was 63, died on Easter Sunday after fighting ill-health for a year and his family and friends intend to fulfil his last wish that they scatter his ashes by putting them into cartridges and clays and shooting them. The task of filling the cartridges fell to his best friend and shooting partner Mr Willie Hughes. "I have taken the lead out of fifty cartridges and filled them with the ashes; I shot two of them over the weekend in Kilkeel and in Mullingar, and I will shoot them at grounds he shot at across Ireland, England and Wales," he said.
The two men established the Gap of the North clay pigeon club on the slopes of Slieve Gullion Mountain and they travelled to Canada, New Zealand and Australia where Mr Mullen represented Ireland in the World Cup.Ms Mullen said the family kept two-thirds of Tony's ashes and buried them with his parents in Dundalk.