Shortly before 11am on Friday morning, a group of teenage girls lined both sides of an entrance to a church in the Blackcastle area of Navan, Co Meath.
Dressed in all black and each carrying pink and white roses, they waited for a hearse.
One of the girls rubbed a friend’s shoulder as the coffin of their friend, Mia Lily Keogh O’Keeffe, arrived. Another stared at the ground before her, avoiding sight of the coffin surrounded by bunches of flowers.
Mia Lily’s father, Stephen, took a deep breath as he stared into the hearse. Behind him, her mother Louise was grasped tightly by her other daughter, Katelyn.
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Moments later, inside St Oliver’s Church, mourners heard how 16-year-old Mia Lily, who died after being hit by a car on the Slane Road on Saturday night, was taken “so tragically” alongside her “beloved dog, Bowie”.
Fr Declan Hurley prayed for the paramedics, gardaí and medical staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, and all those who helped at the scene of the “tragic” incident.
He remarked how the entire community is in “complete and total shock” over Mia Lily’s death.
“We are all overcome by a profound sadness that very few of us have experienced before,” he said, adding: “We have no words.
“We are all shocked at how such a young life can be taken so quickly.”
Friends, family and classmates heard how Mia Lily was “immensely gifted”, and “so creative and artistic”.
During her time in school at Loreto St Michael’s she could “always be found in the art room,” mourners heard.
“She could turn her hand to any form of creativity and teach herself, whether it was painting or crochet, origami, Asian cooking or music.”
“When it came to bringing beauty into our world, Mia never missed an opportunity,” he said.
Among the items loved by Mia Lily, which were brought to the altar, were lip gloss, an energy drink, Sylvanian Families figurines and Korean food items.
She had developed a “huge interest” in Korean culture, Hurley said, and was learning the language so she could “immerse herself in that culture she found so attractive”.
Noting her “gift for language”, he added that the 16-year-old could also use sign language, which she was teaching to her younger brother.
“Mia’s love of language seems to reveal a young girl who wanted to reach out and connect with others. We grieve today for what that could have been, but yet, we must give thanks for how beautiful it has been to witness it,” he said.
Mia Lily also had a love for music, with those attending the funeral hearing her life was “lived to the rhythm” of artists Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, The Cranberries, Fleetwood Mac and “the songs of the musical Wicked”.
Hurley said the “joyful” 16-year-old brought “colour and beauty into our world for a short time”, and “love and joy” to her parents and siblings.
As Mia Lily’s coffin was removed from the church, For Good, a song from Wicked, rang out as mourners cried and embraced one another.
