The close ties of family and community and the great support they afford people in times of grief were highlighted by the celebrant yesterday at the funeral Mass of one of two young men who drowned in a swimming tragedy in Co Waterford last weekend.
Father Gregory Power told mourners at the funeral of Mr Eoin Barry (24) that Mr Barry's parents, Jimmy and Margaret, and sister, Ailis, and other relatives had received great strength from the support and sensitivity of their friends and community during their ordeal.
Mr Barry, from Ballylenane, Dunhill, Co Waterford, drowned together with his friend Mr Gerard Shannon (24), from Raheen, Kilmeaden, when they went for a swim at Ballynarrid near Ballydwane Cove, outside Bonmahon, sometime after 7 p.m. on Sunday.
A third man, Mr Brendan O'Connell (26), who had accompanied the men down a rocky promontory at Ballynarrid but did not go swimming, raised the alarm and the bodies of the two deceased were recovered by naval divers on Tuesday morning after an extensive search.
Father Power said that everyone had their own memory of Eoin. His own particular recollection was of how he met him while thatching a house near his own home in Stradbally and how fascinated he was watching Eoin work and hear him talk about thatching. He also paid tribute to the emergency services.
Eoin's love of his work as a thatcher and his love of music were recalled when a sheath of reeds and a guitar were presented as offertory gifts at the Mass which was concelebrated with local Dunhill priest Father Gerard Purcell as the chief concelebrant.
Many relatives and friends filled the Church of the Sacred Heart in Dunhill for the Mass and burial in the nearby cemetery.
Mr Shannon will be buried today following 11 a.m. requiem Mass at Ballyduff.
