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Niall Carson
Oisín McGrath
Emotional funeral held for boy (13) who died after schoolyard incident
The funeral was told that ‘he had the kind of smile that drew the best out of you’.
THE FUNERAL OF 13-year-old Oisín McGrath has taken place in Fermanagh.
He died on Friday – just three days after he was hurt playing football during his lunch break on Monday.
The GAA player is understood to have suffered a traumatic head injury. A 17-year-old school student was questioned by the PSNI and later released on bail pending further inquiries.
Pupils from his school at St Michael’s College in Enniskillen lined the route of the funeral and his classmates wore GAA jerseys draped over their uniforms.
A jersey was also placed on top of his coffin.
His parents Sharon and Nigel led the mourners at the funeral mass at St Patrick’s Church in Holywell, Belcoo at 11 am.
The Principal Celebrant Father Séamus Quinn told the funeral mass that, “Oisín was also gifted with a lovely personality, a great sense of humour, was a natural communicator and always willing to help others.
He was quiet and easy to be with, with the kind of smile that drew the best out of you, whether you were young or old.
“While Oisín was a leader…he wasn’t in love with the position of leader and, in fact, Oisín would always take time and make place for people who might not have found it as easy to achieve as he did himself.
“He had the ability to found friendships with those who didn’t share his own passions and interests. He was a people person.
“The grief of his young classmates from St. Michael’s, and his fellow team mates from sport say more than any adult could ever get across.”
Father Quinn reached out to Oisin’s parents during the mass saying, “Sharon and Nigel, you must feel crushed by the enormity of the loss of your young son.
The flame of your spirit must waver at times in the face of it all…know that your young saint, Oisín, who never did anything bad or evil in his life, but consistently did everything he could to show gentle love to those around him, will be with you to accompany you in the time to come.
It was mentioned how Oisín recorded himself playing the violin on his iPod and kept it playing in his room during practice time and would be just actually lifting it as his father came up to see how he was getting on.
His football coach said, “He leaves behind a bunch of friends, I have no doubt they have made great memories with Oisín in their time together.”
When the Primary 7 pupils were leaving St. Columban’s they were asked to take a private empty page and write words to describe each other. The words used to describe Oisín by his classmates were: “Generous, helpful, giddy, funny, cool, good at football & music and a great friend”.
Oisin’s organs have been donated to save five lives.
Father Quinn said, “Because of their incredibly selfless and faith based decision, Oisín’s falling on the ground and dying like the grain of wheat has brought life to five other human beings.”
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