National: Family and friends say sad farewell to 15-year-old as mourners told she had ‘plans for future’

A beautiful but heartbreaking service took place at Bóthar na Naomh Church, Thurles, on Tuesday morning as the Requiem Mass for Leah O’Meara, the 15-year-old girl who died in a fatal road collision last week, took place in a church packed with mourners.

During the service, Fr Joe Walsh spoke sensitively about the pain of the mourners’ loss. He said family and friends of Leah are “numb to the core since the tragic news broke.

“And while we are here in the church and outside in huge numbers, our words are few and useless. We try in prayer, and in this Mass, to send some little peace and consolation to Leah’s beloved family to give you strength not only today and tomorrow, but in the weeks and months that lie ahead.”

Addressing Leah’s parents, Lisa and Michael; her three sisters, Rebecca, Katie and Michelle, brother Adam; her grandmother and all of the relations, friends and cousins he said: “Our heartfelt sympathies and our condolences we not only say from our mouths but we offer them from our hearts.”

Students from Coláiste Mhuire Co Ed in Thurles, where Leah attended secondary school, as well as many from Inch NS where she attended primary, also gathered at the church. Leah had just finished her mock exams in the school across the fields from the church.

During the service symbols were brought to the altar by her friends and family. Michelle brought mini-eggs to the altar, and Fr Joe told the congregation they were her favourite.

“If you know Leah you know that the image and style was so important,” Fr Joe said. Katie brought “eyebrows” to the altar; Lucy brought hair care products; Gemma brought eyelashes, while Ross brought up a stylish mobile phone. Other symbols included tan, perfume, nail care products and a Red Bull can.

Fr Joe spoke of how Leah had fitted so much into her short 15 years: “Even as such a young girl at a tender age she had plans for the future. She had a great grá for case files and would love to have followed the road of forensics and to be - as she’d say herself - a detective in that area. That was the plan.

“She had her idea, and while Roxy, her dog, might have won her favourite tag, she had a wide and varied interest in all kinds of animals,” he said. She loved TikTok, too, as well as make-up and many other things.

“She had some taste in music,” Fr Joe continued, adding: “I was expecting when I spoke with Lisa and Michael to hear of certain artists I never heard of before and to be letting on I knew exactly who they were talking about, but no, it went from traditional to heavy metal to country and western to even Tracey Chapman. Our Leah had an ear for them all.

“I thought it was lovely when we sat and chatted below in the presbytery, chatting about how, for Leah, her family and her friends were such a core in that beautiful heart of hers. The way they described it: ‘She was just so easy to please’. What a lovely attribute for a young girl of 15 to be spoken about. At the threshold of life, while her story is only a short 15 chapters, there are many fab memories contained in that book and in her earthly story already,” he said.

“Jesus, who was just over double Leah’s age, left us memories, too, and words of hope and comfort for heartbreaking days like today,” Fr Joe said. Her brother Adam spoke at the end of Mass, saying: “I will love and miss you forever. I’m going to miss our movie nights and I’m going to miss your contagious laugh. “I am going to miss seeing you every day.

“You are my best friend and my sister and I hope that you are at peace and that everyone we have lost is minding you up there. Forever 15. I love you.”

Leah’s sister Rebecca also addressed the congregation, saying: “My heart is shattered into a million pieces. I love you so much. You would have made us all so proud. You were sitting your exams and I promised you I would buy you a tracksuit if you passed your Junior Cert and you were so happy and now I have bought things for your grave instead. I will never get to hear your laugh again and see your beautiful smile or hear you and Lucy your best friend messing in the house. You would brighten up the entire room. Til we meet again.”

Following the service, Leah was laid to rest in St Patrick’s Cemetery, Thurles.