Colm’s ‘light will never fade’

The young Coralstown man who died in a road traffic accident last Monday night, January 2, has been remembered as “someone who did all of the ordinary things so well that it made him extraordinary”.

Twenty-year-old Colm Murray, an apprentice plumber and talented dual GAA player with Coralstown Kinnegad and Raharney, died from injuries sustained when the car he was travelling in was involved in a collision at Griffinstown on Monday night last.

Affectionately known as ‘Rowley’, Colm was fittingly reposed at Coralstown Kinnegad GAA Centre on Thursday afternoon last, January 5, where people queued for more than an hour in the January cold to offer their condolences to his heartbroken parents Eddie and Helen and his sister Therese.

At the start of his funeral in St Agnes’s Church in Coralstown on Friday afternoon, his friends carried up gifts to the altar that represented Colm’s interests and hobbies, including his football boots, a hurl, a Johnny Cash CD, his mobile phone and his work tools.

In his moving commentary during the procession, PJ Cannon said that Colm not only possessed a “wand of a left foot”, but that he also brought “friendship and kindness” everywhere he went.

Fr Tom Gilroy told mourners that Colm “was a good person and a good man; not so much for everything that he did but more because of who he was in this life, he exuded a quality of goodness”.

“Colm’s life left a deep impression on the lives and memories of many, many people.”

Coralstown Kinnegad official Niall Leydon spoke at Colm’s graveside. He said that Colm “was adored by all of us including his large network of friends, team-mates, club mentors and the youth who looked up to him”.

“Colm’s kindness and generosity and love for life are testament to his fantastic parents Eddie and Helen and to his sister Therese.

“...We leave St Agnes’s Church with faith and hope knowing that Colm will take his place in the team of greats from this club and community who have left this life before him. He will line out on the fields of heaven splitting the posts with that classic Rowley left side step.”

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner yesterday, Cllr Denis Leonard, whose son Michael was a good friend of Colm, offered his sympathies to the Murray family. He said that the community is devastated by Colm’s passing.

“He was a really lovely lad. My wife summed it up really well. She said that he had time for everyone, young and old, and that he did all of the ordinary things so well that it made him extraordinary.

“He had a really natural way of engaging you. He would talk to everyone, whether they were five or 75. He had a great life ahead of him. He was just the nicest and most easy going young man. For his team-mates and his friends in the wider community, he left such a lasting impression. His light will never fade.”

Colm Murray’s employer, Bill Collentine of Collentine Plumbing, said the young man was a popular member of staff, whose colleagues are “shocked and saddened” by his untimely passing.

“He was a talented young man, both at his work – he worked with us as an apprentice plumber – and at sports. He was into hurling and football and had his life all ahead of him. He was also very bright.

“He was with us about 18 months to two years. He worked very well with the other plumbers and was well liked by them.

“We’d like to send our sympathies and condolences to his family at this sad time. It is hard to believe.”