The funeral of a 15-year-old GAA player who died in a quad bike incident in Co Laois last weekend has heard he “lived his life with an adventurous spirit”.
David Brown’s mother, Carmel, told the Mass at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Portlaoise that “the great memories we have of David will hopefully carry me through”.
“David lived his life with an adventurous spirit and being a parent to David was also an adventure,” she told the large congregation.
“His kindness, his sense of humour and one of greatest traits, his destiny for life, was always there. As David’s mother, I always tried to be one step ahead of him and the learned skill of having a teenager and asking him to do the opposite of what I really wanted him to do.”
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David was fatally injured in an incident at a wooded area near Ballybrittas last Saturday afternoon. A second teenager was brought to hospital but gardaí said his injuries were not believed to be life threatening.
Among the symbols of David’s life brought to the altar were a hurl, helmet and the GAA jersey he wore last Saturday when playing for a Laois team that defeated Kildare in the Celtic Challenge fixture.
There was also a toy dog, representing his love for animals, with the congregation told one of the last phone calls he made was to his mother to ensure the family dog, Ruth, was fed.
Parish priest Msgr John Murphy said the huge congregation in attendance spoke volumes about the sadness of the occasion and was a testament to David “whose heartbreaking accidental death on Easter Sunday has shocked and saddened a whole community”.
“Losing a child is a tragedy that no parent should have to experience, and losing a brother so young is so sad for Conor and Sarah. A family unit is wrenched asunder, a family unit is brokenhearted and the grief that follows for a family is profound and long lasting,” he added.
His coffin was carried from the church by six pallbearers to the strains of Forever Young and the streets and roads from the family’s home were lined with neighbours and mourners who offered sympathies to the family.