Heartbroken daughter pays tribute to Cork dad stabbed outside home

Loved ones remembered Mark O’Connell as a devoted father and 'biggest supporter' during an emotional funeral in Farranree

Mark O’Connell's requiem Mass was held at 11.30am on Friday in the Church of the Resurrection, Farranree. Picture: Larry Cummins

A father-of-three who was stabbed outside a Cork house on Sunday morning was remembered as his children’s biggest cheerleader at his funeral today.

Mark O’Connell, 38, was a kind and funny man who always had a smile on his face, his daughter Katlyn told around 100 mourners at his Requiem Mass in the Church of the Resurrection in Farranree.

“My dad was my biggest supporter,” Katlyn said.

“Whenever I had a match or anything I could hear his voice and it would always make it better. He cheered for me so loudly,” she said.

“He’d tell all his friends how proud he was of me, I’ll never forget that.” 

She said she used to chat to her dad for hours and that they danced and sang together, although neither of them were particularly good at it, prompting warm laughter from mourners.

“Never in a million years did I think I would be up here talking about my dad,” Katlyn said.

Mr O’Connell would always have a smile on his face when he brought his children to school on Fridays, playing their special Friday song and trying to start their day on a positive note.

“I remember the time we all went ice skating, and my dad was stuck to the fence the whole time. So I told him to hold my hand," she said.

“We were ice skating and we slipped and he fell with me. He kept slipping trying to get up. I don’t think he ever went ice skating again,” she said to more giggles from the crowd.

“My dad was the funniest man that ever came into my life. No matter what I went through he was there for me.

“I’ll forever be grateful for everything he’s done for me,” she said.

To remember her dad’s love of Liverpool football club, Katlyn brought a Liverpool scarf to the altar.

His son Jake brought a lighter for his dad’s ‘smokes’. Hairspray was also brought to represent “his love of his hair and himself”, which drew giggles from the crowd.

But that laughter offered only brief levity during a sombre service.

Mr O’Connell’s uncle, Father David O’Connell, parish priest in Monkstown, gave the sermon.

“The news. The shock. The pain. The questions. The how, the where, the when? The anger. The tears. The waiting for the process to be completed,” Fr O’Connell said.

He thanked everyone who had been supporting the family at an incredibly difficult time.

Soft sobs could be heard throughout the service from pews across the large church. Older generations clasped their hands tightly in prayer.

You’ll Never Walk Alone, the Liverpool anthem, played as Mr O’Connell’s coffin was carried from the church before being brought to his final resting place at St Catherine’s Cemetery in Kilcully.

Guards outside the property in Hollyville, Hollyhill which was last night the scene of a fatal stabbing. Picture: Chani Anderson

Mr O’Connell suffered multiple stab wounds in the driveway of a house in Hollyville, Hollyhill, in Cork city early on Sunday morning.

He arrived at the house and got into an altercation with a man known to him, it is understood.

He was stabbed in the chest and shoulder area, it is understood.

Although emergency services attended the scene and Mr O’Connell was rushed to hospital, he was later pronounced dead.

An autopsy by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster found that Mr O’Connell died a violent death.

A 55-year-old man was arrested at the scene.

He was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984, but was released without charge on Monday night.

Gardaí will prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.