THE FATHER of a 15-year-old girl who was killed in a sledding incident has paid tribute to his camogie and football loving daughter, who was due to attend her first disco on the day she died.
Aoife Downey was killed and her three friends injured when they crashed into a tree while playing on a home-made sled near her home at Frankfield, Cork city, last Saturday.
Speaking at her requiem Mass at the Church of the Incarnation in Frankfield yesterday, Seán Downey said he and his wife Siobhán had experienced problems conceiving and that Aoife was their “miracle daughter”.
“All she ever wanted from me was my time,” he said. “She never looked for anything else. We tried to go to every match she played.
“We were so proud of her. Her proudest moment of all was Féile in 2009 . I pucked every ball with her. When the match ended I was the first on to the field to congratulate her. It was such a special moment. It was just ‘Féile, Féile, Féile’ – that was what we spoke about.”
Mr Downey said Aoife, who had taken to calling him “Seánie Boy” in recent months, did not have a “bad word to say about anyone”, even opponents on the pitch.
The packed church heard Aoife was very protective of her younger sisters Caoimhe and Éadaoin, with Mr Downey saying life would never be the same for the family following her passing.
Siobhán Downey recited a prayer titled “God’s Lent Child” and spoke of an innocent comment made by her daughter Éadaoin as she tried to make sense of her older sister’s passing.
“She came in to us last night, to Seán and myself, and she was all excited and she said ‘I think I know why Aoife has gone to heaven mum’. And I said ‘Why, darling?’ And she said ‘It is because it is baby Jesus’s birthday on Saturday and he wants somebody mad there for his party’. I hope you have a good party Aoife.”
The altar at the church yesterday featured green, black and white balloons – the colours of Douglas GAA club. The 11am Mass was attended by Chelsea Noonan, who was injured in the incident in which Aoife died. Her mother Helen Noonan said Aoife was like another daughter to her. The two best friends were “joined at the hip”.
Yesterday’s Mass was attended by Aoife’s classmates in third year at Christ the King Secondary School, students from her former primary school, Scoil Niocláis, and members of Douglas GAA club, along with a wide circle of friends.
The Mass was celebrated by Fr Bob Brophy who was joined on the altar by five other priests, in addition to the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley.
Fr Brophy said: “I know parents are imagining the nightmare that that could have been my child. That is the horrendous nightmare to visit you the Downey family. It would be trite to suggest there is a human answer to all this. We are in the realm of mystery.”
Classmates of Aoife’s formed a guard of honour as her coffin was taken from the church. She was laid to rest in St John’s Cemetery in Ballinrea, Co Cork following yesterday’s funeral Mass.