Mourners told of ‘cruel darkness’ at funeral

SHANE CLANCY was finally laid to rest yesterday, with mourners at his funeral told of the “cruel darkness” which led to his tragic death and that of Sebastian Creane last weekend.

The life of the 22-year-old Trinity College student was remembered and praised during yesterday’s funeral Mass at the Church of the Assumption in Dalkey, where there were also words of commemoration for the other victims of last Sunday’s tragedy in a house in Bray.

Addressing the huge congregation, which saw people standing along the side walls and packed into the rear of the Church, Fr John McDonagh said last weekend’s events were shocking and a “savage tragedy”.

Mr Clancy stabbed Sebastian Creane to death and seriously injured Mr Creane’s brother Dylan and his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Hannigan in an attack which Fr McDonagh said anyone who knew Shane would have found impossible to believe.

“The Shane you all knew and loved so well was overtaken by a cruel darkness last Sunday,” said Fr McDonagh.

Even before the funeral Mass began yesterday the anguished sobbing of mourners could be heard down the aisle of the Church, and the volume of the wailing increased as the cortege slowly made its way inside.

Shane’s four brothers, Liam, Jake, Jack and Henry, and his two sisters Lucy and Holly were joined by his father Patrick, mother Leonie and stepfather Tony as they took their seats.

Fr McDonagh made special mention of Shane’s kind and generous nature as a son, brother, grandson and friend. He remarked how the subjects Shane was studying at Trinity, theology and Irish, showed his love of tradition, traits which in modern society are often dismissed as “old hat”.

He recalled how Shane, a non-drinker, was a ready and able volunteer, helping out at the St Vincent de Paul’s Sunshine House, or working in charity shops. At his 21st birthday last year Shane had asked for donations to be made to charity instead of receiving presents. Fr McDonagh said Shane had been due to go to Calcutta on a charity trip this summer, but had reluctantly turned down the opportunity.

How different things might have been if he had gone. Now charitable donations will be made to St Vincent de Paul in his memory.

Fr McDonagh said last Sunday’s news had, in light of Shane’s character, been almost impossible to comprehend. He mentioned the “psychotic state and destructive frenzy” which must have consumed him in those dark moments, and which led to the death of Sebastian Creane, who Fr McDonagh said was “an innocent victim”.

In appealing for support for the three grieving families traumatised by last weekend’s events, he said people may turn to the words of qualified professionals, people who can try and make sense of the hard transitions faced by young men in today’s society.

“There is a light that shines in the darkness,” he said, “and the darkness does not overcome it.”

Prayers read by Shane’s siblings paid tribute to Sebastian and also asked for support for those suffering from depression. Later, Shane’s father Patrick read Mary Frye’s bereavement poem Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep, including the poignant line: “I am the son who has come to rest, in the arms of the Father who knows him best.”

Then, to the sound of a lone voice singing REM’s Stand, Shane’s coffin was raised and carried outside into the drizzle, ahead of burial at Shanganagh Cemetery.

Meanwhile, both Dylan Creane and Jennifer Hannigan remained in hospital yesterday recovering from their attacks.

It is understood gardaí have started to interview them, but the process has not yet completed.