Mourners at the funeral of Olympian Ciara Mageean have heard of her determination to give wedding guests a day to remember as she married the love of her life shortly before her death.
asserted
she → hear → death
In 2025 she revealed she had been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, with a likely terminal prognosis.
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she → reveal → prognosis
Mageean married her long-time partner, Tommy Moran, last month.
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Mageean → marry → partner
They had a ceremony at Belfast City Hall before hosting a larger celebration at Darver Castle in Co Louth.
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They → have → Louth
On Tuesday, hundreds of mourners walked in the funeral cortege as the star runner’s coffin was carried into the grounds of St Patrick’s Church in her home town of Portaferry.
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coffin → walk → Portaferry
Lines of young players from Portaferry Gaelic Athletic Club, where Mageean played camogie growing up, flanked her husband and family members as her remains were brought into the church yard.
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remains → play → yard
The players formed a guard of honour as the coffin was carried inside the church ahead of the requiem mass.
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coffin → form → mass
He spoke of the Olympian’s recent marriage and how she was determined to give her guests a “lavish, memorable occasion”.
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she → speak → occasion
Addressing Mr Moran, he told him “you were the love of her life”.
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you → address → life
Describing the couple’s celebrations, the priest added: “There were two events for her wedding and she looked radiant at both of them, at the centre of each event, and I saw her dancing and singing, so full of joy and so happy to be able to celebrate her big day with Tommy.
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her → describe → Tommy
“She was determined to give everybody a day to remember.
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She → give → day
After the second celebration she retired to her hospice bed and that was it, she sank lower and lower, but she held out until last Sunday just passed, the Feast of All Saints.
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she → retire → Saints
She was surrounded by her family as she passed on peacefully.”
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she → surround → family
Fr Kelly said two moments in Mageean’s athletics career stood out in his memory.
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moments → say → memory
“The first was when she returned home to Portaferry after winning a world silver medal at the world under-18s meeting in Canada,” he said.
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he → return → Canada
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“When she arrived on the ferry from Strangford there was a wide circle of Portaferry people to welcome her.
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she → read → her
She stepped off the ferry on to the slipway like a young sea goddess from the lough, wrapped in the tricolour, with a smile to warm all hearts.
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She → step → hearts
She gave me the warmest hug you could imagine.
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you → give → hug
I have always treasured that moment.
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I → treasure → moment
On the home straight she was third behind two runners who had boxed her in.
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who → box → her
She said to herself ‘you’re not going to box in a Portaferry camogie player that easily’.
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you → say → player
So she waited and she waited until an opening came and she cut through like a knife through butter, hitting the line with her arms in the air, getting gold and becoming European champion.”
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she → wait → gold
He added: “She stood on the podium wrapped in a tricolour, listening to the Irish national anthem.
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She → add → anthem
We all had tears in our eyes, our hearts bursting with joy and pride.”
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hearts → have → joy
Fr Kelly recalled a visit to see Mageean in her hospice room in the weeks before her death.
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Kelly → recall → death
He said they talked about the “final big challenge” of death as he gave her the sacrament of the sick.
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he → say → sick
The priest said Mageean then suggested they go for a walk.
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they → say → walk
“I couldn’t believe it.
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I → believe → it
I wasn’t expecting that,” said Fr Kelly.
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Kelly → expect → that
“I said ‘sure’, thinking that it would be easy, because of her condition, I would be able, even at my age of 85, to match her stride for stride, but for Ciara a walk was much more than a dander.
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walk → say → dander
“We did a round of a few streets up round the hospice and when we got to the top she said ‘let’s do another round’.
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’s → do → round
I nearly collapsed.
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I → collapse → ?
Then she said ‘let’s go back to the room’.
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’s → say → room
“On the way down she knew I was struggling and she said ‘let me link you’.
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me → know → you
“Now there is still a bit of the macho man in me, so I hesitated.
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I → be → me
Linking arms wasn’t me.
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Linking → link → arms
Then I gave in.
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I → give → ?
“One of my happiest moments and memories is that of Ciara Mageean linking my arm as we walked back to her room, just a few weeks before she went to heaven.
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she → link → heaven
May you pray for us all and continue to link all of us now on our journeys through life on our way to heaven, where we will all meet again.”
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we → pray → heaven
At the close of the homily, Fr Kelly quoted a tribute left on Facebook by someone who did not know Ciara Mageean personally but described her as a “a truly remarkable, immensely talented and inspirational human being whose courage, humility, infectious smile and indomitable spirit touched hearts far beyond the world of athletics”.
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courage → quote → athletics
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
