The mother of Luke and Grace McSweeney, who died in a crash in Clonmel last week, has spoken at their funeral of how honoured she and her husband were to be their parents.
Brigid McSweeney told hundreds of mourners inside and outside St Peter and Paul’s Church in Clonmel that the family were so indebted to so many people for their support since the siblings died in a crash outside the town last Friday night.
“The help and support that we have received from family, friends, neighbours, schools, clubs, shops and businesses of our town, the community of Clonmel and people far beyond has truly been phenomenal – we are all strong now because of you,” she said.
Luke (24) and Grace (18), along with Grace’s friends, Zoey Coffey (18) and Nicole ‘Nikki’ Murphy (18) were killed when the car Luke was driving crashed on the Mountain Road in Clonmel as he was bringing the three friends out to celebrate receiving their Leaving Certificate results earlier that day.
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Clonmel crash: The four young people who lost their lives
Luke’s former schoolmates from Clonmel High School and Grace’s schoolmates from Presentation Convent formed a guard of honour outside the church as the two hearses pulled up and the Presentation School choir sang a version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Ms McSweeney’s husband, Paul and surviving sons, Mark and David had helped carry the two coffins into the church on Gladstone Street where they were welcomed by parish priest, Fr John Treacy and celebrant, Canon Billy Meehan.
In her eulogy, Ms McSweeney said her family was thinking of both the Coffey and the Murphy families as they too mourned the loss of loved ones. “Our first thoughts today are with the families of Zoey and Nicole – we are thinking of their parents and of their families.”
Ms McSweeney also paid tribute to the local emergency services in South Tipperary who responded to the crash and had tried to save the lives of their two children and their two friends.
“On behalf of Paul, Mark, David, and myself, we will be forever in awe of our emergency services, the gardaí, the fire brigade, ambulance, hospital staff – your heroic efforts last Friday night when we lost Luke, Grace, Zoey and Nicole, four extraordinary young people, will never be forgotten.
“Paul and myself are so honoured to be the parents of Luke and Grace and were blessed to have them for so long – Luke and Grace had wonderful friends and I thank them all for making Grace and Luke so fulfilled and wonderful because they were the happiest that they could have been.
“Grace was gentle and shy and always had to have a friend by her side, Luke was strong, not only in body but also in mind and wanted to make a difference in the world, he wanted to make it a better place – he strived to be the best version of himself, and he encouraged everybody to do the same.”
The Presentation deputy principal, Roisin Hennessy, said it had been an honour to teach Grace, a talented gymnast whom she described as an integral part of so many teams in the school and the community, who played sports as she lived her life “with enthusiasm and a little bit of devilment.”
“When Paul and Brigid picked a name for their daughter, they could not have picked a more appropriate one - the little girl who right before our eyes grew into an incredible young woman was the epitome of grace – as a dancer she was so graceful and elegant, it was wonderful to watch.
Sincerity
“As most of you know, Grace was an extraordinary gymnast, on more than one occasion she made the entire school gasp when she catapulted herself through the air at one of our school concerts but despite these impressive talents, she was not an exhibitionist, quite the opposite in fact.”
Ms Hennessy said that when she spoke of the grace that Grace possessed, it wasn’t just the grace that she exhibited in her gymnastic and sporting career but also the inner grace that marked out as someone of great sincerity which defined her as a person.
“When she was friendly and polite which she was always, it was with sincerity, when she was happy and having fun with her friends, it was with sincerity, when she was troubled or worried, it was with unselfishness and with sincerity and she brought this sincerity and loyalty to all her relationships.”
Kevin Grace spoke of his friend Luke, saying that he had a larger-than-life personality along with a knack for being the centre of attention. “Luke had a huge presence, and you certainly knew when he was around,” he said. “As you can see when you look around here today, Luke didn’t have just one friend group, Luke was a central part of so many friend groups - he had primary school friends, secondary school friends, college friends, gym friends, darts friends, poker friends, gaming friends, I could go on forever.
“Luke had an incredible knack for bringing people together, he was always introducing his friends to new people and was so welcoming to everyone he met – his house on the Mountain Road was always an open house for his many friends.
“There are a lot of people here today who would never have crossed paths if it wasn’t for Luke - anytime I met him I would be wondering who would be with him because it could literally be anyone - if you knew only one person in Clonmel and it was Luke McSweeney, your social life was set up.”
Respect
Earlier mass celebrant, Canon Billy Meehan thanked the people of Clonmel for their support to the McSweeney family and Grace’s boyfriend, Aaron Costin and Luke’s girlfriend, Kelly Corcoran and said it was a great sign of respect that the shops in the town had closed for the funeral.
“We are here to pay tribute to all that Luke and Grace meant to us,” said Canon Meehan as he asked people to also remember both the families of Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy and the O’Reilly family in Cashel who, along with the McSweeneys were “all united in grief at this particular time.”
“When you looked around the town over the past couple of days and saw the great outpouring of grief and solidarity and empathy that was present, you could see it was a real expression of faith, a real expression of belief in God,” he said.
“I suppose a time of grief is a time of darkness, but we all know that after darkness, the sun rises again- we hope and pray that the sun will again rise in the lives of Paul and Brigid and Mark and David and the whole community here in Clonmel.”
Mourners heard that MMA fighter Conor McGregor was a huge hero for Luke.
Mr McGregor sent a voice message which was played at the funeral in which he sympathised with the bereaved family. “I’ve heard many great things about Luke - he was a good man and I want to send my well wishes and condolences to his family,” he said.
Among those who attended were President Michael D Higgins, Cmdt Claire Mortimer, Aide de Camp to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister for Education Norma Foley, Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Richie Molloy and Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Dr Alphonsus Cullinan.
