Gary Doyle's loyalty as a father, son and Liverpool supporter was remembered in floral tributes on Saturday at the funeral Mass in Waterford for the victim of the year's first killing.
The congregation at St Saviour's Church in Ballybeg, close to the scene of the stabbing which resulted in Mr Doyle's death in the early hours of New Year's Day, heard Father Jordan O'Brien say the violent death posed many unanswered questions. "We are a community in mourning, a community in need of forgiveness. Gary Doyle was a person very much loved by his father, mother, brothers, sister and girlfriend and, without a doubt, by his young child.
"It was not a lack of love that led to Gary's unexpected death. It was a disagreement, a row, a misunderstanding.
"For a moment, the true sense of love was lost. Love for another faded but when love returned, it was spoken in words of forgiveness and sorrow. The other side of 'I love you' is 'I am sorry'." he said.
The Oasis CD Heathen Chemistry, a Liverpool soccer jersey, a miniature Pepsi can and photographs of Gary with his young son were placed on the altar during the Mass.
Soloist Donna Roche sang Be Not Afraid as Mr Doyle's coffin was taken from the church to be brought the short distance to St Otteran's Cemetery on the Waterford-Cork Road.
Among the chief mourners was Mr Doyle's partner, Ms Donna Cleary. The couple's two-year-old son Evan was cared for by relatives during the Mass. Also present were the victim's parents, his brothers Mark and David and his sister Amy.
Gardaí in Waterford released a man they were questioning about the murder from custody on Thursday. The investigation team is not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
Gary Doyle was fatally wounded within 200 yards of his mother's house on Priory Lawn, Ballybeg as he walked home with Ms Cleary and a group of others after their New Year's Eve celebrations in McGinty's Pub on the Tramore Road in Waterford.