THE small church in the village of Rosegreen, Co Tipperary, was packed with mourners yesterday. They gathered to bury battle dealer Danny Fanning, who died after being shot in his home last Tuesday night.
The congregation overflowed into the churchyard on a freezing cold and stormy day. At the head of the church the dead man's family - his wife Bridget; three sons Donal, Michael, and Lawrence; five daughters Mary B Rosaleen, Pauline, Ann Marie and Bernadette - sat behind his coffin.
It was draped in the blue and white of the local Rosegreen GAA club, and the saffron and red of the club in his native parish of Moycarkey.
The congregation listened to the parish priest, Dean James Ryan, speak of the shock and horror at the crime which had been committed in their small community.
The violence we had been reading about and seeing on television took on a new dimension when it came to our own neighbourhood. It became very real and very frightening. We have been trying to come to terms with the pain and the horror of it all," said Father Ryan.
He spoke of the "horrific experience" which Mrs Fanning and her daughter Rosaleen, who were in the house at the time of the attack, had gone through. He said they had "experienced their own Calvary," feeling helpless in the next room as Danny ebbed away from them.
He described Mr Fanning as "larger than life". He was known the length and breadth of Co Tipperary.
The Archbishop of Cashel, Dr Dermot Clifford, and up to 50 priests con celebrated the Requiem Mass. All Mr Fanning's children were involved in the service.
At the end of his sermon Father Ryan said there was no answer for those who asked why Danny died the kind of death he did. "If this tragic death helps our country to drive out the demon of violence from our country then it will not have been in vain."
Afterwards the congregation followed the coffin into the nearby Rosegreen cemetery, two miles from the family home.
Supt Ned O'Dwyer, one of two Garda officers leading the investigation, said last night, "We have broadened our area of operation," but he added that there were no definite lines of inquiry.
He said a search had been launched throughout the State for the moss green Volkswagen Polo with a 95 D registration, which gardai believe was used as the getaway car.
He said they were investigating reports that a person in a brown car was seen taking photographs in the area in the days before the killing.