“Every day is a blessing,” he said. “Enjoy life. If you can do something to help someone else, then roll up your sleeves and do it.”
That is how Fr Brian McCann concluded his homily at the Requiem mass for former Antrim legend Anto Finnegan at Christ the Redeemer Parish Church in Lagmore on Wednesday. Fr McCann was quoting a line from a newspaper interview Anto had given following his diagnosis with Motor Neuron Disease back in 2012.
The line summed up the man perfectly, always willing to help and do whatever it took to help, in life and on the playing field, be it with Lamh Dhearg, St Paul’s or Antrim.
They came from far and near to say their farewells, ex team-mates and men who had played against him during a great career. GAA President Larry McCarthy, former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, and former Dublin manager Jim Gavin joined the hundreds of mourners as they offered their support and condolences to Anto’s wife Alison, daughter Ava and son Conall.
Former club and county colleagues carried his coffin, draped in the St Paul’s colours, and it made its way to his last resting place. A fitting farewell for a great man who gave us all so much during his lifetime.
Pics by Seamus Loughran
