Hundreds of mourners gathered in Portaferry, Co Down, for the requiem mass of Olympian Ciara Mageean, where they heard of her determination to give wedding guests a day to remember as she married the love of her life shortly before her death.
The former European 1,500-metre champion died on Sunday aged 34 after suffering bowel cancer. Mageean, from Portaferry, competed for Ireland at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In 2024, she made history by winning European gold in Rome, becoming just the second athlete after Sonia O'Sullivan to secure an individual European title for Ireland. In 2025, she revealed she had been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, with a likely terminal prognosis.
Wedding and Funeral Cortege
Mageean married her long-time partner, Tommy Moran, last month. They had a ceremony at Belfast City Hall before hosting a larger celebration at Darver Castle in Co Louth. On Tuesday, hundreds of mourners walked in the funeral cortege as her coffin was carried into the grounds of St Patrick's Church in Portaferry. Lines of young players from Portaferry Gaelic Athletic Club, where Mageean played camogie growing up, flanked her husband and family members, forming a guard of honour as the coffin was carried inside the church.
The homily was delivered by Fr Martin Kelly, who was parish priest at St Patrick's from 2000 to 2009 and had known Mageean since she was eight. He spoke of her recent marriage and how she was determined to give her guests a "lavish, memorable occasion". Addressing Mr Moran, he told him "you were the love of her life".
Priest Recalls Joy and Final Days
Describing the couple's celebrations, Fr Kelly said: "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. She was determined to give everybody a day to remember. 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. What an appropriate day. She was surrounded by her family as she passed on peacefully."
Fr Kelly recalled two standout moments in Mageean's athletics career. The first was when she returned home to Portaferry after winning a world silver medal at the world under-18s meeting in Canada. "When she arrived on the ferry from Strangford there was a wide circle of Portaferry people to welcome 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. She gave me the warmest hug you could imagine. I have always treasured that moment," he said.
His second standout moment was the 2024 European Championships final in Rome. "On the home straight she was third behind two runners who had boxed her in. She said to herself 'you're not going to box in a Portaferry camogie player that easily'. 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." He added: "She stood on the podium wrapped in a tricolour, listening to the Irish national anthem. We all had tears in our eyes, our hearts bursting with joy and pride."
Final Walk and Tributes
Fr Kelly also recalled a visit to see Mageean in her hospice room in the weeks before her death. They talked about the "final big challenge" of death as he gave her the sacrament of the sick. Mageean then suggested they go for a walk. "I couldn't believe it. I wasn't expecting that," said Fr Kelly. "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. 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'. I nearly collapsed. Then she said 'let's go back to the room'. On the way down she knew I was struggling and she said 'let me link you'."
Fr Kelly continued: "Now there is still a bit of the macho man in me, so I hesitated. Linking arms wasn't me. Then I gave in. 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. Thank you Ciara from the bottom of my heart. 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."
At the close of the homily, Fr Kelly quoted a tribute left on Facebook by someone who did not know Mageean personally but described her as "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". He then quoted the end of the online tribute: "The brightest lights never truly fade. Their warmth lives on in the hearts of those they touched."
Stormont First Minister Michelle O'Neill, SDLP leader Claire Hanna, Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) president Jarlath Burns and Irish Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Rhys McClenaghan were among the mourners. Aides of President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin also attended the funeral. Mageean is survived by her parents Christopher and Catherine, sisters Máire and Nuala, and brother Brendan.
