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Schoolboy Kyle Pilbrow, who died in hospital on Sunday from injuries received in a road incident the previous evening, was recalled at his funeral on Thursday as kind and warm, witty and cheerful.
“He could charm the socks off you”, Fr Michael (Mike) Murphy, chief celebrant, told mourners at the funeral Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Roundfort, Co Mayo.
“Kyle was mischievous but there was no badness in him,” Fr Murphy continued.
“He loved meeting people, listening to their stories and having a bit of fun. He enjoyed wrapping people around his fingers.”
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But behind all the fun, Fr Murphy stressed, was a kind and caring young man.
Roundfort Church overflowed with mourners for the funeral Mass of the 13-year-old first-year student at St Colman’s College, Claremorris.
Kyle was seriously injured on Saturday when the tractor he was driving unaccompanied crashed at Scardaune, several kilometres from his family home at Bushfield, Hollymount.
He passed away at Temple Street Hospital in Dublin on Sunday after being transferred there from University Hospital Galway.
At Thursday’s Mass, Fr Murphy recalled the shock and sadness in the community when news filtered through that Kyle had, first of all, been badly injured followed by the news a day later that he had died.
Chief mourners at the funeral were the dead boy’s parents Janny and Lisa, his brothers Morgan, Alex and Ethan, his grandparents Seamus and Veronica Nevin, and Renate Pilbrow.
“You have lost a wonderful son, brothers, grandson, cousin and friend”, Fr Murphy told the extended family.
He lightened the mood of intense sorrow and emotion by quoting from a school essay written by Kyle last year in which he noted that in 10 years’ time he would be 22.
“By then I would like to have my own mechanic shop ... and a lovely wife”, the essay continued lightheartedly.
Classmates from St Colman’s College and GAA team-mates from the local Garrymore Club formed guards of honour as the remains were brought to their last resting place in Roundfort Cemetery.