Memorial hears Lorcán lived his life with great compassion

​Lorcán, who was 26, had travelled to Sydney in November and had been due to travel home in the coming weeks.

He was reported missing on Sunday, March 24. His body was recovered from water the next day.

Since then there has been a huge outpouring of grief both at home and in Australia, where the congregation filled Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Waverley.

Fr Bernie Thomas told mourners that Lorcán had “touched the lives of so many people”.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a church so full of young people. It’s a great tribute to Lorcán,” he added.

“I know many of you will be asking why and I’m afraid I don’t have the answer for that.”

Damian Sweeney spoke on behalf of Lorcán’s friends and family.

He said their thoughts and prayers were with his immediate family in Ireland.

“We are also thinking of his late brother, Peárse, with whom Lorcán had an inseparable bond,” he said.

“Lorcán loved his friends and family, and they equally adored him.

“We are also thinking of his partner Shona and the wider community in Hilltown at this difficult time.

“Lorcan was a gentleman. He was soft spoken, unassuming and very intelligent. Those who had the pleasure of knowing Lorcán would know that he was also very funny and took every opportunity to have a laugh and take the mick when he got the chance.

“Those who had the displeasure of marking him on a GAA pitch would know what a tough opponent he was. You would rather be lining out beside him than against him.

“Lorcán’s passion for GAA and all things sport began with his home club, Clonduff. A dual star, one of his proudest sporting achievements was winning the championship in 2018, with Peárse no doubt proudly looking down.

“Lorcán's love for GAA continued here in Sydney, where he joined Young Ireland and excelled in recent pre-season competitions.

“Lorcán had a huge passion for travel. He had visited 10 countries since turning 18. Some of his favourite places that he visited were Kenya and the US, which led him to his most recent adventure here in Australia.

“He travelled out with some of his good mates last November to enjoy the weather and the lifestyle that Australia has to offer and to meet up with his friends and cousins who were already out here.

“But a lot of us think that the real reason was to follow Shona.

“Lorcán’s love for travel continued here in Australia, him and Shona making plans to explore the country in the future.

“Travelling was only one of Lorcán’s many plans for the future. Lorcán loved his style, always being the best dressed in the group, which to be fair wasn’t that hard.

“He had plans to do his own clothing label, which as his friends know was only one of the ideas he had - something that he would have been more than capable of given his intelligence and drive.”

Offerings were made of a family photo, a gym notebook, one of his favourite shirts, a Young Ireland jersey and Peárse’s memorial Clonduff jersey along with a hurl and a sliotar.

Fr Thomas again made reference to the number of people who had turned up to the memorial, stating: “I don’t think anyone who has been in Australia for five months would dream of having such a crowd at such an occasion.

“That says something about who Lorcán was.

“As you mourn there’s no clear answer but remember the promise that we believe that Lorcán has received God’s grace and God has received him into his place of rest, purely because he was a man who lived his life with great love, with great compassion and with a great sense of hope for all of you.”

“The best thing you can do is to remember his gifts and to try and live up to some of those gifts of his. That’s a bit of a challenge, but never forget him. Keep him in your hearts and trust in God’s merciful love for him.”