Mother of teen who died in Greece remembers 'beautiful, funny and mischievous' boy
The coffin of 18-year-old Andrew O'Donnell is carried into The Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The mother of a Leaving Cert student who died while on holiday in Greece has told his funeral mass he was a “beautiful, funny and mischievous” person.
Hundreds turned out for the service for Andrew O’Donnell, who suffered a fall while on a post-exam trip with his friends on the island of Ios on July 1.
The 18-year-old and his St Michael College Dublin classmate Max Wall both died in separate tragedies while on their trip away.
Max, also 18, was laid to rest on Monday. Andrew’s funeral also took place at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook, south Dublin.
At the service, Andrew’s heartbroken parents Behinn and Gavin, and younger brother Rory were surrounded by their son’s wide circle of friends, classmates, and teachers, who formed a guard of honour outside the church holding yellow roses.
Andrew’s mother described the painstaking journey she made with her husband and the Wall family, as “we brought our beautiful boys home” from Greece.
She shared how they had spent a lot of time with Andrew’s friends over the past 10 days where there was “lots of laughing” and “a lot of crying”.
“It has been amazing to discover from everyone the beautiful, funny and mischievous person you were and the incredible bonds you had formed with so many friends,” she said in an open letter to her son.
“Daddy and I spent so many times worrying about you when you moved from your small close-knit group of St Matthew’s friends to St Michaels. We realise now there was really never anything to worry about."
Elton John’s ‘Rocketman’ was sung during the service along with an instrumental version of Tears for Fears' ‘Mad World’.
The congregation was told Andrew — who was nicknamed ‘Ajod’, was a “huge Liverpool and Munster fan” and that he threw the odd secret house party and loved making “cheese toasties” with his mother.
St Michael’s school chaplain Fr Paddy Moran described how a memory wall had been created in the college for the boys and read some of the messages left.
He said Andrew, who loved English, had written about his family on the first day of the Leaving Cert exams.
He said a friend told the O’Donnell family he had written about them his “personal essay” in English Paper 1 where he described his “deep love, care and admiration” for his family and his two dogs.
Fr Moran also read one of Andrew’s Mother’s Day cards, which said: “I love you so much mum I hope you realise how loved and appreciated you are, nothing would be the same without you. PS Is there any other greater present than the grand slam?” which Fr Moran dedicated to the Irish rugby team.
Mrs O’Donnell said she had discussed with his father Gavin how Andrew had packed so much into the past year.
She said: “You spent that year fulfilling lots of life experiences and it was a great year. So many memories created. You loved your baby brother Rory, and I always knew once you both got older that silly sibling fighting would fade away and you would become tight brothers, ganging up on me and daddy and that bond was truly forming."
She concluded by saying: “Sleep well, we love you, we miss you, but we will see you again one day. Goodnight my beautiful, boy we are truly heartbroken."
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