Tears flow at funeral of truck driver dad killed in…

Tears flow at funeral of truck driver dad killed in road crash while on mercy mission to see ill brother

Tears flowed today at the funeral of young father who died in a road crash while on a mercy mission to visit a seriously ill brother.

Mark McDaid, from Carndonagh in Co Donegal, got married in July but died five days ago outside Tuam, Co Galway, in a horror road accident.

He had driven almost 300km to visit his sibling when the tragedy unfolded.

His brother was in hospital in Galway after he received serious injuries while working on a boat in Rossaveal harbour and Mr McDaid and other family members had been mounting a bedside vigil for several days.

Mr McDaid was staying overnight at a property in the Cummer, near Tuam when he went for a walk at around 12.30am – and was then struck by the car.

Emotional scenes unfolded today at his requiem funeral Mass at St Patrick’s Church in Malin as Mark’s teenage son Mark Junior read the eulogy in tribute to his late father.

The family’s local priest told mourners: “It all seems so wrong that a man so full of life has gone. He was so full of love, was so helpful, and loved life so much.”

His heartbroken family, including mum Bernie, dad Neshie, wife Katie and children, led the mourners.

Lorry driver Mark’s coffin arrived at the small church on the back of a Scania lorry and was taken to the altar as hymn Here I Am, Lord was sung.

The priest said: “It’s a funeral Mass that we didn’t expect and it is a very sad morning in many ways.”

He added: We come with many questions, but we come not looking for answers, but for consolation at a time of tragedy and we get hope.

“If there was anybody who had hope, it was Mark. He had a great ability to come back with a good answer.

“As his mother Bernie told me, if she was giving out to him, he would say, ‘Dry your eyes and carry on’.

“He would say that if there was too much sadness, too much tragedy, too many tears. There is something in that personality that we need today.

“We need some of Mark’s spirit, that great love that he had for his family, that great joy that could overcome tragedy.

“He was a lorry driver and there was almost a vocation to it. He loved travelling with his father Neshie in the lorry.

“It was a passion where he travelled the whole continent.

“Now, Katie his wife and his father and mother are all wondering how they are going to navigate life without Mark, he will be such a loss.

“There will be times in the future when the grief and the loss will be so much that we will have to pray and ask God to help us.

“Help us to get through this time of grief and loneliness and hopelessness as we negotiate this next while before Christmas.

“Any death is sad, but coming up to Christmas is very sad. It is also very sad that, while Mark and Kate were together for 20 years, they just got married during the summer.

“There’s so much sadness, but in Mark’s words, we will have to dry our eyes.”

Mark’s son, also called Mark, said in his eulogy: “Da was a great dad. He was funny and he would never be able to stay angry for long.

“He always saw the brighter side of things and would make a joke. Da was a real family man.”

Mark Junior said his dad always did his best – “even when he had a sneaky pint or two” and “always told us how much he loved us.”

He added: “Dad will be deeply missed by us. We love you as loving and kind.”