James Monaghan 'full of life and divilment' and his mum Catherine O'Donnell 'very loving and loved'

The mother and son are the fourth and fifth victims to be laid to rest following Friday’s explosion at a service station in the village.

Mourners gathered at the entrance of St Michael’s Church in Creeslough as the hearses arrived at the church shortly before 2pm and their coffins were carried behind each other into the church.

Symbols of James Monaghan and Catherine O’Donnell’s lives were brought to the altar at the start of their funeral mass in Creeslough.

Fr John Joe Duffy said items to do with wrestling that “James loved so much” were being brought up alongside a watch and necklace to represent “the style that was so important to Catherine”.

Fr Duffy welcomed Irish President Michael D Higgins to the mass and thanked him for keeping the people of Creeslough in their hearts.

“We know we have been so very much part of your heart and we have been so very much in your thoughts in these days. You are most welcome, thank you,” he said.

Also in attendance was Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue,

During Requiem Mass Fr Duffy said he could not help but think of Seamus Heaney’s poem Mid-Term Break when he attended the wakes for James and Catherine.

“It reminded me much of that poem,” Fr Duffy told mourners.

“In the porch I met my father crying he had always taken funerals in his stride and Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow”, he recited adding: “And this was certainly a hard blow.

“It was a hard blow for you as a family and a hard blow for us as a community generally.

“But for all the families who have lost loved one it was the hardest blow and for those who continue to remain seriously ill and all who were affected by this. It is incomprehensible.”

Speaking to James Monaghan and Catherine O’Donnell’s family, Fr Duffy said: “You are struggling of course naturally to come to terms with the extremely painful and heartbreaking, incomprehensible loss that you are experiencing as a family.”

He told the congregation that he had “such fond memories” of James and that the boy had recently attended his first disco.

The congregation heard Catherine O’Donnell was “bubbly” and “full of life”.

“She was very intelligent, and she loved parties,” Fr Duffy told mourners. “She loved organising parties.”

He described the mother as a “glam lady”, adding she was a “shopaholic”.

“And if that meant staying up for hours staying online as she did recently to get tickets to go to Garth Brooks, she did… she was determined to get the tickets.”

Fr Duffy added: “She was a loving mother, a loving partner, a loving daughter and one who was much, much loved.”

Fr Duffy told James Monaghan’s classmates: “James was full of devilment, wasn’t he? And full of life and joy.

“That’s what he would want boys and girls. He would want that joy and that life in you, and to value your life and always do well in life. Always work hard.

“James might have tried to sneak out of work at school but I encourage you to work hard.”