Paul Kavanagh, the 20-year-old who lost his life in a car crash near Bruree, Co Limerick, on Christmas Eve, had “fulfilled his childhood dream” to be a competitive jockey, his funeral mass has been told.
Chief celebrant Fr Pat Farragher told the congregation in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Tuam, Co Galway, that Kavanagh had achieved success in his short life working for trainers Enda Bolger and David Loughnane and rode winners for both.
Fr Farragher noted that a minute’s silence for Kavanagh had been observed before racing at Limerick on St Stephen’s Day, and jockeys wore black armbands at Leopardstown, Limerick, Down Royal and Kempton, in tribute to the young man.
He said Kavanagh’s passion was horse racing and he was described by past pupils of St Colman’s National School in Corofin and St Jarlath’s College in Tuam as polite, well-mannered and a credit to his family.
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Symbols of Kavanagh’s life which were brought to the altar included an autobiography of the jockey AP McCoy; a hurl from his days playing with Sylane Hurling Club and the JP McManus colours in which Kavanagh had raced the McManus-owned Gimme A Buzz to victory at Clonmel, last summer.
The chief mourners were Kavanagh’s parents Kevin and Alison, sister Grace, brother Ryan and extended family.
In a joint eulogy with his sister Grace, Ryan Kavanagh said he wanted the funeral to be a celebration of his brother’s life, rather than an occasion of sorrow. He said that after a childhood of the usual rivalries , “there was not a day that went by that I did not look up to my little brother”.
Grace Kavanagh read a tribute from their cousin Jack in New Zealand. The tribute recalled how the two boys “were always stuck in some sort of mischief together, always up to no good the whole time”.
The condolences of communities in Co Limerick where Paul Kavanagh had lived and worked were conveyed by concelebrants Fr Robert Coffey PP of Athlacca and Fr David Gibson PP of Bruree.
