A WEST Belfast GAA player killed in a car crash in Australia will be remembered as a "beautiful person", mourners were told at his funeral.
Ryan Straney (27) from the Upper Springfield Road died in a collision in Sydney on April 15.
At his funeral at St Joseph's Church in Hannahstown on Saturday, Fr Patrick Devlin said there was immense sadness at the loss of a beautiful person.
“Every possible feeling exists within the hearts from (his mother) Sharon, to the boys and to the extended family,” he said.
“So many young people here today; big men, broken hearts and tears – and that’s okay guys, it is okay.
“You have lost a beautiful person in your life and I hope that you have – and take – the type of courage that he had in his life, to live life to the full and to take each day as new and as precious.
“He was brought to this very baptismal font, where he was set on the journey of life, and I’m sure no-one on that day could have thought that his life indeed would have been so short.
“In his short life, he achieved so much and let us think of what he did achieve, and not what could have been.
“Being a son was important to Ryan, and it is what gave him life and happiness.
“It gave him the opportunities and challenges to do and achieve the many things that he wanted to do in his life – not least of all his education, his success in sports, his travel.
“I was exhausted listening to the hobbies and the skills and the talents of Ryan. My goodness, it was exhausting thinking about it, between Lámh Dhearg and all the different sports and hobbies he had – he excelled in them all.
“He was a very loyal person, a very moral person. He understood the difference between right and wrong. He was strong-minded and faced up to challenges well.
“He most certainly brought his intelligence and his values to everything that he did... his goodness, his kindness were brought with him throughout this local place and much beyond.”
