Teenager Shaun Martin McClafferty remembered as kind, bright and adventurous

Teach Pobal Chríost Rí in Gortahork overflowed with mourners who gathered to bid a sad farewell to Shaun Martin McClafferty.

Shaun Martin, along with his friend Jamie Diver, lost his life in a road traffic collision on Friday evening, February 28. 

Two friends who were travelling in the same vehicle were hospitalised with serious injuries. At Shaun Martin’s funeral Mass on Thursday, March 6, Fr Sean Ó Gallchóir asked people to pray for the continuing recovery of the two surviving young men, and for the doctors and nurses caring for them.

“Thank God the news is getting better,” he said.

Fr Ó Gallchóir extended sympathy and support to Shaun Martin’s grieving family - his parents Michael and Sharon, his sister Sara, his nannie Sheila Darcy, aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family and friends.

He is predeceased by his grandparents Seán and Máire McClafferty, his aunt Cáit McFadden, and his papa Martin Darcy. Only a month earlier, on February 6, mourners gathered in the same church for the funeral of Shaun Martin’s 13-year-old cousin Enya McMurrough who passed away just days after taking ill suddenly and unexpectedly at school. 

Fr Ó Gallchóir told those gathered: “Today we feel for Enya’s family too, for Shaun, for Fionnuala, for Sean Beag, and we recall during the wake how Shaun Martin was good to Sean Beag. He was very good with children.”

As the funeral Mass got underway, symbols were brought to the altar representing Shaun Martin’s life.

Micheal Curran brought up a hard hat symbolising Shaun Martin’s work in Dublin. 

“Micheál was his gaffer and his guide, his mentor and his cook in Dublin,” said the celebrant.

Shaun Martin’s friends Shane, Damien and Nicholas brought a Lexus badge, a wooden clock made under the guidance of the late teacher Shane Gillespie in Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola (PCC), and his toolbox.

Fr Ó Gallchóir was joined by concelebrants Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Raphoe Monsignor Kevin Gillespie, Fr John Joe Duffy, Fr Martin Doohan, Fr Brendan Ward, An tAthair Donnchadh Ó Baoill, Gortahork; An tAthair Micheál Ó Oireachtaigh.

“Little did I think that I would be concelebrating Shaun Martin’s funeral Mass,” said Fr Ó Gallchóir.

“It brings back lots of memories. We stood here where he is now, on Sharon and Micheál’s wedding day, hearts full of hope and happiness.”

He recalled Shaun Martin being before the same altar for his Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation. 

Mourners heard that Shaun Martin attended primary school at Caiseal na gCorr from 2012 to 2020, and the PCC from 2020 to 2024.

“It is a hard day for both schools, Caiseal na gCorr burying two past pupils in two days, and PCC, Shaun Martin now joining Enya, teacher Shane Gillespie, and the others who died belonging to the school in the last number of years,” said Fr Ó Gallchóir.

The celebrant recalled that as a young boy, Shaun Martin was bright, able, clever, intelligent. But the academic route was not for him, and after getting a taste of working life during Fourth Year work experience, he left school.

After working locally for a short time, he secured employment in Sweden, working on the construction of a golf course for golf professional Henrik Stenson.

“He talked his dad into going with him,” said Fr Ó Gallchóir. “It was a happy Scandinavian sojourn that he had, and he was very content  until his Dad’s time there was up and he had to come home and get back to the lorries.”

Shaun Martin came home a short time later and joined Source in Dublin.

“Micheál Curran became his second Dad there, took him under his wing,” said the celebrant. “He loved it even though he had to get up at 5 or 6 in the morning.

“From Dublin there was a great thrill coming home every weekend and enjoying friends and all the activities here.”

Fr Ó Gallchóir told the bereaved family: “Within that short life story there are thousands and thousands of memories that will sadden you and strengthen you in the time that lies ahead.

“We know that he will live on forever in your memories, in your hearts.

“You will be strengthened by the memories that you have yourselves of Shaun Martin’s life. These memories surround you; memories of all the years of rearing and caring, of worrying and wooing and warning; of counselling and advising and cajoling and comforting and caressing and correcting, the years of encouraging, of sharing, of loving in all its various forms. 

“You’ll also be strengthened by this community.”

He said the support had been wonderful from the hundreds of people who had lined the streets as the remains of both young men were brought home, and the thousands more who had attended both wakes and funerals.  

“You must be strengthened too by the presence of so many young men and women here in this parish over the last couple of days,” said Fr Ó Gallchóir. 

“I think it’s been a great eye-opener for us older people to see young people line the walls here today and their great friendship with one another, a great comradeship, a great camaraderie, a great feeling of depth of sorrow and sadness that the feel at the death of Jamie and Shaun Martin. 

“We thank them for their great support, their great presence, their great dignity in this time of awful sorrow.”

He spoke of how the family were also being supported by other families in the area who sadly experienced their own tragedies.

The priest had a special word of gratitude for those who had attended the scene of the collision, and who had done their best to assist the four young men. 

“We are all trying to understand the pain of parents as we contemplate the fragility of life,” said Fr Ó Gallchóir. 

“You appreciate very much as we all do now, how fragile life is.

“Oftentimes we carry on as if we were indestructible, invulnerable, maybe especially the young people with life full of possibility and positivity and plans and programmes and deadlines and tomorrows. 

“Today again we are very, very aware of the fragility of life and its preciousness. We appreciate it all the more in its loss.”

He said the cars parked outside the church for both funerals bearing the names of the deceased young men were reminders that motoring is important in life and brings great joy especially to young people. 

“But today we are reminded as well that the car can be a very lethal weapon,” said Fr Ó Gallchóir. 

“We are reminded that every time any one of us steps into a car, that we drive with great care and with a great sense of responsibility, not alone for our own precious lives but for the precious lives of those who travel along with us or who we meet along the road. 

“Hopefully we resolve to try our best not to endanger anyone and to realise that the car for all its glory is a very potent weapon. 

“So today we appeal that all of us do our utmost to ensure that we have no more weeks like the past week in this community, a week full of wakes. The past week has been a wake up call for all of us to drive with utmost care and to do our best.”