Devastated family will return to wedding church — this time for a funeral

TWO white balloons dance into life as a lorry speeds past, only a silver ribbon tied to the roadside signpost preventing them flying away.

Partially deflated and battered by a fortnight of brutal weather, the names decoratively penned on each are still unmistakable — Michaela and John.

Beside a rain-soaked page depicting a cartoon bride and groom, they point the way off Co Tyrone’s busy A5 and down a narrow country lane to St Malachy’s chapel in the townland of Ballymacilroy, where two weeks ago the teacher married the love of her life. That day Mickey Harte was the proudest man in Ireland as he accompanied his only daughter on the half-mile drive from the family home on the Glencull Road to see her wed Down footballer John McAreavey.