Funeral mass for Longford man Shane Carrigy hears of his zest for life and love for his family.

The congregation in attendance at the funeral of much-loved Ballinanlee businessman, Shane Carrigy, heard today of his “zest for life”, his “fantastic energy”, and above all, his eternal love for his wife Anne and children Kayla (5) and Ryan (3). 

The funeral mass - which was led by Shane’s close friend, Fr Joe McGrath - also heard how it had been an exceptionally difficult time for the Carrigy family as Shane’s father Michael sadly passed away yesterday, just two days after Shane tragically lost his life in an accident.   

The Holy Trinity Church in Shane's home village of Ballinalee was packed with mourners, some of whom had flown in from New York to pay their respects. For the ceremony, 7 concelebrants lined the altar, in front of which lay the heart breaking floral tributes that read, ‘Daddy’ and ‘Uncle Boo.’ 

As gifts were brought to the altar, Shane’s good friend, Declan, explained the significance of each one. 

“John McGuire brings forward a bluetooth headset which represents Shane’s love of conversation which created many bonds and wonderful friends that he had so many of,” he began.  

Jimmy Barrett brought forward a work diary, which, Declan said, “emphasised Shane’s love of hard graft, his skill, and pride in building the business to what it is today.” 

Shane’s friend Fintan Fox brought forward Liverpool tickets representing Shane’s recent trip to Anfield and his lifelong love of Liverpool Football Club, while his sister Michelle brought forward a Sean Connollys jersey and a Longford jersey to represent Shane’s love of the GAA, his club, county, parish and community.

Said Declan, “Some of his happiest trips were when he was transporting these teams around the country” 

Lastly, Shane’s mother-in-law, Marie, brought to the altar a beautiful framed photo of Anne, Kayla, and Ryan which represented “Shane’s most important love, and how his wife and children meant the world to him.”

Fr Joe, who had some years ago celebrated Shane’s wedding to Anne in Galway, and the baptisms of their two children in the years that followed, spoke of the last text he received from Shane which showed his eternal gratitude for his wife and children. 

Said Fr Joe, “Kayla, the joy of his life, came into their lives and transformed everything. Not long after that, God blessed them again and Ryan, the second great joy of Shane’s life, arrived and he felt blessed, grateful, and utterly content at what life had given him. The last text I got from Shane was a few weeks back. Kayla and Ryan were playing in the soft club over in Roscommon waiting for Anne to come out of work, so they could go off for the evening. I text back, ‘wow fabulous picture, two beautiful children, you are blessed!’ Shane text back, ‘and that’s a fact!’”  

Fr Joe added, “As priests, we're not parents. We marvel at how sometimes parenting changes the lives of people. It’s not that Shane was a tearaway; he led his own life but somehow becoming a parent transformed his whole life."

"I imagine Shane, content as he was, was living his life in black and white, and then you Anne, Ryan and Kayla, you came along and changed his life into full high definition multi-colour and he absolutely loved every moment. He would text me about the chaos of Saturday mornings in Ballymakeegan, everything topsy turvy, the 4 of you sitting down and saying we’ll have pancakes and he’d cook the pancakes; there was just this freedom and joy and sense of gratitude about how blessed he was.”  

Fr Joe also recalled a touching memory that was shared with him in recent days by a man who had travelled to matches with Shane.

Said Fr Joe, “I was talking to a soccer coach just a few days ago. He recently became a father himself and he was telling me how for months, when he and Shane were on the bus, he said, ‘we’d be talking about soccer, our teams, the premiership, the Irish team and then the conversation turned and we were talking about children, being up at night, play centres, national schools,’ and Shane had said to him, when your child is 2 or 3 years old and they see you coming home and they run out to meet you and jump into your arms and your child says to you ‘daddy I love you’, there’s no better feeling in the whole world.”

The music performed at the funeral mass included the song 'Lonely Island' by Amble, a band Shane and Anne had planned to see live in two weeks. Fr Joe told the congregation that Shane had been so proud of Amble’s music and how well Longford born band member, Ross McInerney, had done.

As the congregation heard of Shane’s many qualities, one recurring mention was given to his gratitude.

Said Fr Joe, “I’ve known him about 25 years, and my sense is that he lived with an incredible gratitude for the blessing of every day; to wake up and embrace the day with all its ups and downs, to just live your best life.” 

To a huge round of applause, Fr Joe closed with the words, “Shane, it was a joy. We will all live in gratitude for your life. It’s not an island for one. We will see you again.” 

Shane’s older brother, Michael, delivered a beautiful tribute to Shane on behalf of the Carrigy and Gallagher families.

Thanking everyone for attending, he noted the large crowd in the church and said it reflected the enormous number of connections Shane had made. “He knew so many people, the level of connection he had, I don’t know anyone else who had that,” he said.

A special world of thanks was given to the emergency responders and funeral directors, one of whom had been a close friend of Shane’s. 

Said Michael, “To the funeral directors Gorman and Mr Fintan Fox. As most of you will know Shane and Fintan had a special friendship. I had a call with Fintan last Thursday, and it’s one we never have thought we’d have to have. He said to me that day, ‘I was only talking to him this morning.’ That echoed what so many people I spoke to in recent days said, ‘I was only talking to him.’ 

Addressing the priests, Michael said, “Thank you to Fr Tom (Ballinalee Parish Priest), who called to us last Thursday in difficult circumstances. Thank you to Fr Joe for your support for Anne and Shane. Fr Joe has been coming to our house for years. The relationship goes deep. Joe had been there in the dark days many years ago and also in the great days. Whether it was weddings or baptisms, Joe has been a special friend.” 

Touchingly, Michael then sympathised with Fr Joe over his own loss of a good friend. 

Michael went on to thank the communities of "Ballinalee, Ballymakeegan, and beyond" for their help throughout the last number of days.

“Such a large void has opened up in our lives in the past week and we just ask that together we support each other as we work our way through this. To the communities of Ballinalee, Ballymakeegan, and beyond, over the last number of days people have been so good to us, they have stepped forward, brought food, brought people to and from… and in times of grief, you rely on people to get you through it.”  

“A major thank you to Shane, and all we’ve learned from him, for showing us what friendship really is and what community really means." 

“The amount of people who said they had been speaking to him Thursday morning, Wednesday night, had breakfast with him Wednesday morning, I don’t know how with all he did in the day, how he had time for so many conversations.” 

Michael recalled the late night phone calls he would receive from Shane, whom, he said, would always make a point of checking in on people.   

“Shane had fantastic energy, from early mornings right through to late at night” he said, “Some of us were on the early morning call list, I was on the late night call schedule, after soccer. Shane would always call just to check in on people, see how they were doing. He was always somebody people could rely on.”

Michael added, “Shane was forever busy, he always had some project on the go. Some he had been working on for a while and some he was close to getting over the line. He was always helping others out too. Whenever the phone rang, it was “yes Michelle?”, “yes Michael?” If you reached out, he answered it as if he knew you were coming to him for something and he would always say yes.”  

After recounting how good Shane was with children in his role as an uncle and later, as a father, Michael went on to describe Shane as a great listener, someone people could reach out to whenever they needed someone to talk to.  

He recalled, “One of the things I failed to appreciate was that as much as Shane was a good talker, he wasn’t a half bad listener either. He was always keen to give advice and a lot of people got comfort from reaching out and speaking with him when they needed someone to listen.”

Michael added, "Anyone who spoke with him in the last five and a half years would know that his greatest pride in life - he was very proud to be an uncle and a wonderful one he was - but five and a half years ago, it was to be called daddy. Kayla and Ryan, together with Anne, were the centre of his world. I hope they forever know just how much they were loved.”

Michael said Shane’s sudden death was something that would take family and friends “some time to fully process.” 

“While he and I would have talked many times when we heard of other sudden tragedies, you still never expect you’ll have to deal with it. He had lots of things planned. We will forever miss him and we will cling on to the wonderful memories he helped us to create. The last few days have been filled with unimaginable tragedy for our family and this community. Just know that day by day, we as a family and a community will take the small steps together. We will try and support each other.” 

As he ended his tribute, Michael asked people to remember Shane in their prayers and to live their best lives just as he would have done.

“To close, I want to echo Fr Joe. Please remember Shane in your prayers, think of him, think of the fun and zest he had for life. He invested in life, he never missed a minute, never lost any time. He was always planning some steps ahead, so to keep his memory alive, live your best life. Shane thanks for everything and God bless.”