Thousands line streets for slain teenager’s removal
The significant garda presence, drafted in to ensure the 19-year-old’s removal had a clear path from Cobh Hospital Mortuary to the cathedral, was hardly needed.
The town had ground to a virtual standstill as thousands wanted to line the streets to show support for Sheola’s grieving parents, Carol and Peter.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people had travelled to the mortuary behind Cobh Hospital where Sheola lay in repose.
They tried to offer some comfort to Sheola’s parents and bid their own farewell to the 19-year-old, a photograph of whom stood on her closed coffin.
Many emerged from the small mortuary in tears, with one teenage girl repeating “I can’t believe it” as she stood outside.
One former colleague of Sheola’s father Peter said he seemed to be almost in a shocked daze as he tried to talk to people.
“He loved her so much,” she said.
Among those who travelled to Cobh were a number of people from Clonmel where Sheola lived for much of her life.
Fr Sean Broderick, from Rockwell College, Clonmel, where the 19-year-old was a pupil, said all the school, but particularly her former classmates, were deeply shocked and upset by what had happened.
He said he had called some to talk to them about the tragic loss.
“I phoned two of her school friends who are in America. They were very upset and asked me should they come home for the funeral,” he said.
As he was leaving the mortuary, he comforted a small crowd of his former pupils and classmates of Sheola who had just arrived from Clonmel.
The Rushbrooke Hotel, where the 19-year-old worked, closed so that all staff could visit her in the mortuary and also attend her funeral tomorrow.
Shortly after 7pm, Sheola’s coffin was placed in the back of a hearse and a long cortege of mourners formed a line behind her as she travelled down the steep hill.
Once there, they were greeted by Fr John McCarthy who escorted the coffin into the large cathedral.
Once the mourners had filled the seats and gathered at the back of the church, he began to pray for Sheola and her family.
After a decade of the Rosary, he asked all those present to continue to pray for Sheola’s family and friends “at this terrible time of sorrow”.
Meanwhile, at the scene where the young woman’s body was found in a laneway in Cobh, as the gardaí continued their search for any clues to her killer, people continued to add to the large pile of flowers offering messages of support to the Keaney family.
One read: “We miss you so much, you were a great friend.
Love you so much, honey. Heaven was obviously missing an angel because they had to take you back.”
Tomorrow, huge numbers are expected to converge on Cobh Cathedral at 2pm for her funeral Mass.
She will then be laid to rest at St Coleman’s Cemetery.
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