Ballymena crosses the divide to pay respects to Michael

GINA McIlveen collapsed onto the coffin carrying the body of her murdered son Michael. “My baby, my baby,” she sobbed, engulfed by the enormity of her loss.

As she clutched the white wood outside All Saints Catholic Church in Ballymena, Co Antrim, the grey skies darkened overhead. Rain mixed with tears on the faces of the many mourners — well in excess of 1,000 — gathered not only for a funeral, but also a defiant show of unity against sectarian hatred.

Michael, 15, a Catholic involved in cross-community work and who counted plenty of Protestants among his friends, was beaten to death with baseball bats in a killing that outraged communities across the North.

With six teenagers accused of the murder, Ballymena, a staunchly unionist town in the heart of the Rev Ian Paisley’s so-called ‘Bible belt’, has seen its record on sectarianism come under unyielding scrutiny over the last 10 days. But it was Michael’s generation, out in such strength for his funeral, which offered hope that political and community leaders have been urged to seize.

Outside the St Patrick’s College pupil’s terraced home in Dunvale Estate, scores of teenagers arrived in Glasgow Celtic tops bearing a simple message on the back: “Micky Bo RIP”. Others, however, wore the jerseys of sworn enemies, Glasgow Rangers, complete with the same tribute.

As Protestants and Catholics mingled easily in front of a garden carpeted with flowers and wreaths, a smiling picture of Michael gazed down from an upstairs bedroom window.

“I would like to think it’s the beginning of the healing process,” Mayor Tommy Nicholl said. He was there with the blessing of Mr Paisley, MP for the town, who couldn’t attend because of business in the Commons, but who had visited the family instead.

Inside the house could be heard There Were Roses, a song written about the futility of sectarian violence which tells of two friends on either side of the divide both being killed.

Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Féin chief negotiator; Sean Farren, a nationalist SDLP assembly member for North Antrim; and David Ford, leader of the Cross-Community Alliance Party, all followed the cortege to All Saints for Requiem Mass.

As the service was held, it was confirmed a loyalist flute band had agreed to re-route a parade planned for this weekend which would’ve passed close to the murder scene.

But despite the message of unity and tolerance during the mass, anger still lurked among some young people. Patrice Hardy, 16, was focused on punishment for those who carried out the killing. “It’s an absolute disgrace. I don’t think it should have taken a murder to give this town a wake up call,” she said. “But if there’s not justice there will be a big uproar.”

The teenager, from Ahoghill, just outside Ballymena, admitted she didn’t have any Protestant friends.