The husband of Irish Olympian Ciara Mageean was seen carrying her coffin as hundreds of mourners gathered for her funeral following her cancer battle.
The athlete died surrounded by family on Sunday aged just 34 after enduring almost 20 rounds of chemotherapy.
In 2025 she revealed she had been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, with a likely terminal prognosis.
Her funeral took place this afternoon in her hometown of Portaferry at St Patrick’s Church.
The former European champion runner married her longtime partner, Thomas Moran, at a ceremony in Co Louth just weeks before her death.
Speaking at the funeral, former Parish Priest recalled fond memories of Ms Mageean.
He said: ‘When Ciara decided to marry Tommy, the love of her life, she wanted to give everybody around her a lavish, memorable occasion, you could say like what happened in Cana.
‘There were two events, and she looked radiant, at the centre of each event, dancing and singing, so full of joy and so happy to be able to celebrate her big day with Tommy.
‘She was determined to give everybody a day to remember. After the second celebration she retired to her hospice bed and that was it, she sank lower and lower, but she held on until Sunday just passed, the Feast of All Saints.’
A funeral is being held for Irish Olympian Ciara Mageean who died after a grueling battle with bowel cancer
European 1500-metre champion and two-time Olympian Ms Mageean died on Sunday, aged 34
Her death comes just weeks after she married her long-term partner Thomas Moran in an intimate civil ceremony in Belfast
He added: ‘She was surrounded by her family as she passed on peacefully. I can imagine her loving grandparents Paddy and Kate Mason linking her through the ages of heaven when she arrived there.’
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph she admitted ‘the odds are stacked against me’ in the months before her death and said she did not expect to live a long life.
Speaking over the summer after completing her memoir, she said: ‘As a fit, healthy athlete, I thought that would be well into my 80s. But being diagnosed with cancer at 33 made me realise I may not be here to celebrate my 40th birthday.
‘That is something that is really tough to come to terms with. I won’t take for granted the good things that I have.’
She added: ‘I probably will never have a family. It’s something I always wanted. That’s something that’s still so raw.
‘Even sharing that with my friends. I’m at the age where your friends are having families. My friends were nervous about telling me when they got pregnant, which was something I never wanted.
‘Two things can be true. I can be absolutely heartbroken at the reality of my life and be so overjoyed for them.
‘Now I have, I know they’re not my birth nieces and nephews, but I’ve got so many wee nieces and nephews and little bundles of joy in my life.’
Days before her final interview, she told Irish broadcaster RTÉ about the day she learned she had stage 4 bowel cancer.
She said she sat in ‘stunned silence’ with her husband Thomas and cried.
She said: ‘I probably shouldn’t have, but I Googled what the survival rate was for people with stage 4 cancer.
‘I saw that only 10 to 15 per cent of people with stage 4 cancer survive. I was like, okay, that’s not good odds.
‘But I did think, “okay, why can’t I be in that 10 to 15 per cent?” It’s a strange mix to have that determination and think, “I’m not going to let this cancer win”, but also have the sheer dread of thinking the grim reaper is right behind me.
‘I had never met somebody as young as me going through this, so there were so many emotions.’
Ms Mageean competed at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
She made history in 2024 by winning European 1500m gold in Rome, becoming just the second athlete after Sonia O’Sullivan to secure an individual European title for Ireland.
Following her death, a statement on her Instagram account said: ‘At 6.30am, Ciara lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones. A beloved daughter, sister, wife, friend and inspiration to so many, she will be deeply missed.’
Praise for Mageean’s sporting achievements as well as sadness at her untimely passing has come from across the island of Ireland, including from Irish President Catherine Connolly.
Fellow athletes including Republic of Ireland football captain Katie McCabe and fellow Olympians Keely Hodgkinson and Dina Asher-Smith have also paid tribute to Mageean.
