The funeral of Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen, who died after a sectarian attack, took place in Ballymena, Co Antrim this morning.
Extra police werer deployed on the streets of the town for the funeral.
Michael McIlveen was attacked by a gang after a night out with friends
The 15-year-old was assaulted by a gang in the early hours of last Sunday week, after a night out with friends.
During the funeral service Father Paul Symonds said darkness had descended upon Ballymena with the wanton murder of Michael.
The priest described the teenager as full of life, looking forward to a career and playing his part in creating a more harmonious, respectful society.
During his homily at the packed church, with hundreds of mourners listening outside, he said: "In his short life Michael touched many others - his family of course, but also his schoolmates and his many friends, especially from the Ballyloughan Cross-Community Club.
"It's not without significance that on the night on which Michael suffered the brutal attack from which he subsequently died he'd been earlier enjoying a pizza with a friend from Ballykeel (a loyalist estate).
"Michael loved Ballymena, and the society in which he mixed embraced both the north and south of the town, both Catholic and Protestant, supporters of Celtic and Rangers, as well as other teams."
Father Symonds told how the McIlveen family had been deeply touched by the wave of sympathy and compassion from Protestant neighbours and church leaders, but urged against complacency.
"We must grasp this opportunity of a new beginning, aware that cynical and negative voices will try to stifle the good that God can bring from the evil of Michael's death."
St Patrick's College, where Michael was a pupil, closed to allow its 400 pupils to pay their final respects. The teenager's family and friends were joined by community leaders and politicians, including Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness.
Catholic and Protestant friends of Michael wore Celtic and Rangers jerseys as part of a guard of honour in a show of cross-community unity at his funeral.
Michael was chased by a loyalist gang, cornered and attacked with a baseball bat in Garfield Place, moments after buying a takeaway pizza in the early hours of May 7th. He died from his injuries the following day in Antrim Area Hospital.
Six teenagers have since appeared in court charged with the murder, while a seventh has been charged with affray.
PSNI Chief Superintendent Terry Shevlin has expressed concern about retaliation amid reports of dissident republican activity in the town. But on the eve of the funeral, Sinn Féin accused the police chief of providing justification for the murder.
North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan said: "Shevlin has sought to portray the situation in Ballymena as tit-for-tat violence.
"It is nothing of the sort. Shevlin is supposed to be the head of the PSNI in the town.
"His job is supposed to be to protect the public, instead he has sought to provide excuses for those who brutally murdered Michael McIlveen last week.
"He is a disgrace."