Mourners bid final farewell to ‘radiant’ Niamh
They were reminders of a “beautiful and useful person” who touched countless lives despite the brevity of her existence, the requiem Mass was told.
Niamh McCarthy died after a freak accident in sand dunes while on holiday in Kerry.
She was on holiday with a group of friends in a house near the Back Beach in the Maharees when a sand dune collapsed on her.
Friends made desperate attempts to dig her out of the dune and she was transferred to Kerry General Hospital. Her parents Tom and Catherine and brothers Paul, David, and Tom Jr rushed to her bedside but she died in hospital.
At her requiem Mass on Saturday, Fr George Murphy, the parish priest of Minane Bridge, described Niamh as “a radiant blossom” who had “so much promise”.
“She had a determined mind and she showed she could be trusted by her friends and they enjoyed her company. She enjoyed a large circle of friends.
“So much promise, so much to live for and so much seen within her expected to blossom and bloom into a beautiful and useful person.
“Who would have thought on Wednesday, May 30, that the parish priest of Cusheen would administer to her the Last Rites? He rang me to tell me the shock news.
“The surroundings were so beautiful and so innocent. Jumping off the sand dunes was an age-old recreation of children in that part of Co Kerry, they all did it.”
Niamh received 7 As in her Leaving Cert last year and was described by staff at University College Cork as a “gifted student”. She was a former pupil of Coláiste Mhuire in Crosshaven and was studying biological and chemical science at the time of her death.
The McCarthys are a well-known and popular family in Minane Bridge. Niamh’s mother, Catherine, sings with the Minane Bridge choir, while her father, Tom, is a senior engineering official with Cork County Council.
Niamh was laid to rest in St Patrick’s Cemetery, Nohoval, following 2pm requiem Mass at Sacred Heart Church, Minane Bridge on Saturday.
