Private Seán Rooney: A life in pursuit of peace, now he goes to rest in peace

As temperatures dropped and light faded, a piper's lament filled the Newtowncunningham air.

The piper, Corporal Vincent Murray from Dundalk, played as a family tightened its grip, a mother clutched an Irish tricolour, a fiancée nursed a UN flag while crying into a blue beret and colleagues fought back tears.

Eight days after he was killed in the Lebanon, heroic soldier Private Seán Rooney was laid to rest in the cemetery of the Church of the All Saints on Thursday afternoon.

“He spent his life in pursuit of peace and now he has gone to rest in peace,” Fr Paschal Hanrahan, Head Chaplain of the Irish Defence Forces, said as he led the graveside prayers.

Funeral of Private Seán Rooney takes place in Dundalk

“I will love you forever son, and I cannot wait to be reunited with you in heaven."

It was like nothing Newtown had ever borne witness to.

A coating of fog was visible in the distance over the Swilly, just beyond the Blanket Nook Wildlife Sanctuary, as military figures began to congregate in Newtown.

By the time Private Rooney's remains arrived, following Funeral Mass in Dundalk on Thursday morning, an estimated 1,000 people were in attendance.

They included around 270 soldiers on parade, among them 200 guards of honour from the 28th Infantry Battalion at Finner Camp.

The Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, led the huge military presence.

Private Rooney was shot dead in the Al-Aqbieh area of south Lebanon, the 88th Irish soldier to die while on overseas deployment.

The Company Commander of 121 Irish Battalion Recce Company, Commander Brian Connolly, who accompanied Private Rooney on a Irish Air Corps CASA aircraft flight from Beiruit, made his way to Donegal.

He was joined by three soldiers from the unit who had maintained a constant vigil by Private Rooney's side after the 24-year-old's killing and also accompanied him home.

Private Rooney was a native of Dundalk and was stationed with the 27th Infantry Battalion in his home town.

The commanding officer of the 27th Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Colclough, led the large contingent of soldiers from Aiken Barracks.

The clock just struck 3pm when Sergeant Simon Halpenny gave the order and eight soldiers from the 27th Infantry Battalion carefully removed Private Rooney's coffin from the hearse, carrying it to the waiting, gleaming gun carriage on the N13.

The shutters went down at the usually bustling Kernan's Eurospar, its staff sombrely lined on the roadside.

Traffic on the road – the main route from Letterkenny to Derry – was diverted as the fallen soldier was given a send off with full military honours. He had been due to make this very journey 24 hours earlier, when he was expected to return home for Christmas.

Private Rooney joined the Army just three-and-a-half years ago. His choice of career was no surprise. As one leading Army Officer remarked to Donegal Live: “The family is steeped in the military.”

As if to symbolise the point, three military uniforms were among the group of family mourners; three uncles who are serving members of the 27th Infantry Battalion.

The Parade Marshall, Commandant James O'Hara signalled and Private Rooney was taken, precisely step by step, the 800m to his place of rest, led by the Army no.1 band, under conductor Captain John Carpenter.

The route was lined by serving and ex-military personnel, all adorned in freshly pressed uniforms and newly-shined medals, as the notes of The Croppy Boy, Wrap The Green Flag Round Me Boys, Down By The Sally Gardens and The Foggy Dew inched the procession closer.

Military service men, past and present, saluted as Private Rooney's remains moved past.

Staff and students from St Eunan's College in Letterkenny – where Private Rooney attended for three years - were among those waiting at the entrance to the Church. Former schoolmates stood in stunned disbelief; the procession's magnitude bringing home the haunting reality of it all.

Corporal Murray led the coffin to the graveside.

The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, was among the mourners, having also attended the Funeral Mass earlier in the day.

The dignitaries also included Tanaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConnalogue, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, TDs Pearse Doherty and Padraig Mac Lochlainn, Senators Niall Blaney and Gerard Craughwell, a large volume of Donegal County Councillors and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

Fr Hanrahan officiated with Bishop of Raphoe, Alan McGuckian SJ and Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown and Fr Philip Kemmy, the Parish Priest of Newtowncunningham & Killea, were also by the graveside.

The Irish tricolour and UN flags were carefully folded and handed to Private Rooney's heartbroken mother, Natasha McCloskey, and his grief-stricken fiancée, Holly McConnellogue, who held his UNIFIL blue beret, which had sat upon the coffin.

A 21-shot gun salute was performed and, after Private Rooney was lowered into the grave, The Last Post and Reveille were sounded by bugler, Corporal Niall O'Leary.

Private Rooney joined the Army three-and-a-half years ago, training first at Gormanston Camp before going to the 2 Cavalry Squadron at Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin.

There, he trained as a motorbike operative and learned to drive armoured vehicles.

Private Rooney was also a trained reconnaissance soldier.

“It showed the drive he had,” a member of the Defence Forces Press Office said, “to get to that level of skill in such a short period.”

There was a common phrase uttered about Private Rooney, words that will surely be of some small comfort to a family that mourns his passing.

“He was a model soldier.”