Musician Paul Mooney was a ‘brilliant beam of sunshine’, funeral hears

A silence hushed through St Mary’s Church in Ramelton as the words of Edgar Albert Guest were read by Gwen Mooney at the funeral mass for her son Paul on Friday.

The poem ‘A Child Of Mine’ was chosen for the reflection, which the mother of the talented musician - who was killed in a road traffic accident on Monday - read to the packed Church: “But should the angels call for him, Much sooner than we've planned. We'll brave the bitter grief that comes, And try to understand.”

Gwen’s words were accompanied by the sounds of the guitar played by Paul’s dad, Morgan, another accomplished musician.

Gwen choked back the tears as she told the congregation: “I got this wee poem many years ago when Paul was a baby. They struck a chord then. I didn’t think that I would ever be saying it in these circumstances.”

Paul, aged in his early 30s, was killed in a two-car collision on the N14 Letterkenny-Lifford road near Manorcunningham on Monday evening.

The tenth person to die on Donegal’s road, Paul was a popular musician throughout Donegal and beyond. He was a member of the band BoyM5 and played as a solo artist ‘Mooney’.

Fr Michael Carney, the parish priest in Ramelton, said Paul was ‘destined for Glastonbury’ and described him as ‘a unique individual who in his short life made an indelible mark on just about everybody he met’.

“He was a brilliant beam of sunshine,” Fr Carney said. “Those words take on an intensity at this time of year, on the shortest and darkest days when we are starved of sunshine Sun lights everything that it shines on - even in the depths of winter. 

“Paul was a brilliant beam of sunshine: That sums up Paul. Those words bring with meaning and depth as they describe the brief, but life-giving light of a son, a grandson and a friend.Paul’s life was full of qualities which brought sunshine to their lives. Paul had sunshine in his pocket.”

Symbols of Paul’s life were brought to the altar, inciting a pizza box and a top hat. A guitar and famed pictures of Paul and his partner, Nicolle Killeen also rested at the altar.

Fr Carney remembered how Gwen had collated her son’s many musings - which he would jot down when ‘the moment’ caught him - and put them together on a computer.

Fr Carney said: “That really is a treasure and a part of a vital legacy. Words were important to Paul. Words are important to anyone who plies their trade by the written word.

"Paul’s words were the expression of his inner soul and the product of his observations on life around him. They channeled his emotions, his deep-seated love and his yearnings. They gave expression to things he was passionate about.

“The most telling thing said of Paul is not what he might have achieved or given, but who he was and what he did. In the opinion of one of his friends, Paul had an impactful existence on this planet.”

As well as his parents, Gwen and Morgan, Paul is survived by his grieving sisters Maeve and Julianne and their partners Seamus and David, his nana Frances and a large circle of family and friends.

Fr Carney also prayed for Paul’s heartbroken partner Nicolle, who was with him on Monday.

Fr Carney recalled how Paul studied song-writing in Manchester and how he ‘left so many pointers of how to navigate life’

He said: “Music was his world, his avenue to self-expression and his way of being who he was. That self-expression revealed a unique talent in a capable and competent musician. He had an ambidextrous guitar technique and had a comprehensive knowledge of the technique around his genre.

“He had integrity in a world blighted by shifting loyalties. He thought things through and lived by his own principles and ideals. He thought things through and lived and cared for everyone. He lived life to the full.”

After his funeral mass, Paul was laid to rest in St Mary’s Church graveyard.