Funeral for tragic 19-year-old Ellen open to all on Tuesday

Father Sean Rogan said he will lead the service at noon on Tuesday (not Wednesday as reported in some media), at St Malachy’s Church, Castlewellan.

He said it will be open for all to attend.

Afterwards, the student is to be laid to rest in Aughlisnafin graveyard.

Ellen had died on the third anniversary of her mother’s death.

Father Rogan said that only last Wednesday that Ellen (an only child) had received offers from different universities, including one in Liverpool.

He said the mood among parishioners on Monday was “sombre, and full of sympathy and understanding”.

He described her as a “lovely, vibrant, bubbly, fun-loving young student that just loved life and lived life”.

Concerning her father Bartley Finnegan, he said: “He’s bearing up. Obviously he’s traumatised as anyone would be with the death of his only daughter in such tragic circumstances following the death of his wife just three years ago.”

The fire was reported above her father’s butcher’s shop at around 4am on Saturday.

The fire brigade said that if there had been a working smoke alarm in the property, she would probably have lived.

Her body was brought to a relative’s house on Sunday night, ahead of the funeral.

Father Rogan said that the area is extremely “tight-knit” and that since had still been a pupil at Assumption Grammar in Ballynahinch, and since her father is a well-known figure in the area, the funeral looks set to see “a huge crowd there” at the roughly 800-capacity church.