Meath GAA star Emma Duggan admitted there is more to life than a game of football after Dunboyne lost their All-Ireland Club Championship semi-final to Mourneabbey over the weekend.
Laura Fitzgerald scored four goals as Mourneabbey advanced to the final with an emphatic victory over Dunboyne on Sunday.
The defending champions were far too strong on their home pitch and outstanding displays from Fitzgerald, Doireann O’Sullivan and Eimear Meaney ensured they came out on top, after they were 3-9 to 0-4 in front at half-time.
Both sides stood in silence to remember Ashling Murphy before the match and Duggan paid tribute to the young school teacher in her post-match interview.
She said: "It's a disappointing end to what has been a really, really great year. You can't take away from that either but look we'll take a couple of days to reflect on everything - the high points and what is a low point now. But you have them days sometimes.
"I think what this week has taught us as well, we're out here playing a simple game of football and there's so much more going on in the world.
"Obviously the tragedy that happened with Ashling Murphy. You think one second to think about that and it brings you right back down to earth and it puts everything into perspective so we won't be too disappointed in terms of that [losing the game]."
Yesterday, the Garda Water Unit continued their work in the canal as they searched for more evidence, including a potential weapon, before leaving at around 2pm.
Then Ashling’s heartbroken family were escorted to the scene and walked along the canal to where her life was so brutally taken last week.
Dad Ray along with mum Kathleen, sister Amy and brother Cathal were there for about 10 minutes before they went back up to a jeep and were brought to their family home in Blueball, around 10 minutes away from Tullamore town.
Huge queues formed outside the family home as hundreds came to pay their respects from 4pm yesterday, while Ashling’s body lay in repose.
Today, the wake will take place from 3pm to 8pm before her funeral mass tomorrow at St Brigid’s in Mountbolus, which will also be streamed live.
The family have requested family flowers only and that the house be strictly private on Tuesday.
On Saturday evening at Mass in the Church of the Assumption in Tullamore, Fr Joe Gallagher told how the town is still reeling in “the shock, the horror, the grief”.
He added: “We remember Ashling who was so violently taken from us in a place we thought was safe.
“She was only going for a run. And we remember her broken-hearted family. We cannot even begin to understand their pain and we want to reach out to them and carry them through this awful time.
“And her pupils in First Class, the little ones she loved, and they adored her. And so many of her friends and young people who are coming face to face with the horror of violence and loss. Life can be so cruel, and we don’t know why.”
