Joe Hegarty tragically died in quad bike accident
The words were spoken by a priest at the Requiem Mass for the the six-year-old following his tragic death last week.
Family and friends dressed in brightly coloured sports tops packed into St Patrick’s & St Brigid’s Church, Ballycastle for the funeral.
Parish Priest Fr Brian Daly began the ceremony by telling the congregation about the “love and joy he [Joe] brought to everyone that came across him”.
Fr Daly described Joe’s life as being “full of joy and happiness”.
“Joe could pack an awful lot of living into a single day, in his six and a half years time didn’t really matter for Joe, he lived in wonder at everything.
“Above all, Joe lived in a little world of which he only knew love and happiness, he went from happiness here to greater happiness in the fullness of life with God.
“Joe will never know anything other than joy and the joy of Joe was a gift to anyone who knew him in these short years,” Fr Daly said.
The six-year-old died as a result of a quad bike accident on Friday, August 16.
“We didn’t know then it was to be Joe’s last day and for Joe it was to be another day of his holidays, going to be with his friends up on the farm.
“Joe was himself, full of energy, excited the way he always was. In an instant that afternoon, in an accident, Joe was taken from us and we are all just devastated, beyond words,” he said.
Joe was a much-loved and adored son of Andrea and Michael, loving brother of Katie, and a cherished grandson of Denise and Eamon McIlroy and Mary and Seamus Hegarty.
Fr Daly praised the family for their strength during this difficult time.
“We would all like to do anything to comfort you but you have been amazing in your reaching out to us, when we have gone to your home feeling helpless to say or feel anything, we have come away feeling that it is you who have given comfort to us.
“It’s almost as if you, in your kindness and generosity of heart, have put your own pain on hold for us,” he said.
Fr Daly extended the sympathies of the congregation to Joe’s family.
“People are here not just because this is a tragedy that has touched the hearts of so many but also because we admire you and regard you and we want to support you and pray for you.
“We know that future days will be very hard and we can’t spare you those or lift them from you but I only hope that we, who gather with you today, will be there for you whenever and however you need us,” he said.
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