The heartbroken brother of a talented young sports star who collapsed and died while playing a football match said his younger sibling had touched a huge number of people in his short life and was his “hero”.

Family and friends of Deirdre Lynch made her funeral Mass into a heartwarming celebration of a girl described as “a wonderful, shining light”.

A 16-year-old Co Cork boy who died suddenly while playing a schools’ match has been described as a “an extraordinarily skilled sportsman” by his principal.