Stars join with locals in celebrating top cyclist's life

Dunboyne came to a standstill last Thursday morning as representatives of the Irish cycling world joined the family and friends of Paul Healion, the 31 year-old member of the Tour Ireland team who died in a car accident near Ardee the previous Sunday night. As his remains arrived at Dunboyne Church, workers who are renovating the building removed their hard hats and joined the farewell to the cyclist as his team mates on the Irish cycling team waited at the door in their green jerseys to provide a guard of honour. Mr Healion - known as Paul Dan - who had to cope with adversity during his relatively short life, would say that what is required from his family and friends following his death is acceptance, dedication, commitment, sacrifice and meeting life's challenges, the parish priest of Dunboyne, Monsignor Dermot Farrell, said at the cyclist's funeral Mass. "And Paul Dan met his challenges well, accepting his own limits," he continued. "Perhaps we could learn through Paul Dan something utterly simple about God's shaping of our life stories." Like Paul Dan, St Paul emerges from the New Testament as energetic, committed and heroic figure, and he too would say that we need commitment, sacrifice and dedication. He quoted from St Paul's letter to Timothy, read at the Mass: "I have fought the good the good fight to the end; I have finished the race." Mons Farrell went on: "Paul Dan's untimely sudden death cut short a life that was so full talent and promise. I am very much aware that all words are inadequate to temper grief or to even begin to heal the pain being so keenly felt by his family, friends, team mates and colleagues in the cycling community present here. For so many people, Paul Dan's death has turned their world upside down. The past few days have been an agony for his wife, Anne; his mother, Mary; for Paul Dan's sisters and brothers, Emma, Niamh, Norah, Kevin and Damien; and all of Paul Dan's cycling colleagues and his many relatives and friends." Mons Farrell said that, for Anne and his mother, Mary, he was a devoted husband and son, respectively. From an early age, he was a keen sportsman, and in the line of gear, he never settled for second best, only the top of the line. He went to O'Connell Schools in Dublin because he felt it was more committed to sport and would facilitate his development in that area. As a schoolboy, he loved hurling and football. In hurling, he won an under-16 county medal with the Dunboyne club. "As a teenager, he committed himself to cycling which became his total life. He gave it everything he had. It's a tough sport, but Paul Dan met that challenge, and we know he met it fully when you look at the long list of his achievements," Mons Farrell said. He had been selected for the Irish team for last weekend's Tour of Ireland professional cycling race where he would have ridden against some of the best names in the sport, including seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, and Britain's Mark Cavendish. In May, he had competed on the Irish Team in the Ras and took victory in a bunch sprint in Castlebar, beating a multiple Tour de France stage winner. He also had competed for Ireland in the World Cup track events, both as part of the 4km team pursuit and 1km individual event. He would have been central to Cycling Ireland's plans to qualify a team for the 2012 London Olympics. The Dunboyne parish priest also recalled how Paul Dan had taught himself to play the guitar. In the offertory procession, gifts relating to Paul's cycling career were brought to the altar by family members and cycling friends, including his FBD Insurance Ras stage win jersey, medals and photographs, with Paul's brother, Kevin, providing commentary. One of the most moving moments of the ceremony was a prolonged round of sustained applause after this procession which Kevin invited for his brother, together with a standing ovation. Monsignor Farrell was joined by his predecessor, Mons Edward Dunne; Fr Tony Gavin, who married Paul and Anne in Kilbride in 2006, and Fr Michael Whitaker, Enfield, for the funeral Mass. Burial followed in Rooske Cemetery, to where the remains were accompanied by numerous colleagues of Paul's on their racing bicycles. Paul Dan was predeceased by his father, also Paul.