Two coffins sat side by side before the altar of a Ballycastle church yesterday as a young couple killed in a crash last week were laid to rest.
Brigid Wilkinson (21) and her partner Owen Óg McMullan (25) died after their car collided with another vehicle on the Moyarget Road between Ballymoney and Ballycastle in Co Antrim on Friday afternoon.
A joint funeral Mass was celebrated at St Patrick's and St Brigid's church in Ballycastle yesterday.
Fr Brian Daly said the couple were remembered as the "life and soul of the party, lighting up every room".
Mr McMullan, from Armoy, and Ms Wilkinson, originally from Ardoyne in north Belfast, had been together for several years and lived together in Ballycastle with their three young children.
Ms Wilkinson, a former pupil of St Gemma's Girls' School and later Mercy College in north Belfast, played football for the Antrim Ladies Under 14 county team and club football for Ardoyne Kickhams as a teenager.
Fr Robert Butler of Ardoyne parish in north Belfast was a co-celebrant at the funeral.
Fr Daly told mourners yesterday: "We gather in the church building in such small numbers because of the current restrictions but we know we are being joined in prayer by so many others."
He said that both families had been left "heartbroken" by the couple's death and that "words cannot describe the loss".
"It's a glorious life the Lord has given us but sometimes it's a valley of tears... at times it's just a deluge of tears like it's been from Friday evening and like it will be for so long," he said.
He said Ms Wilkinson's family described her as having "broke the mould" when she was born.
Mr McMullan was remembered as "a beautiful, happy and loving baby" who grew up to be loving adult.
"So many memories to cherish forever for Owen's family and Brigid's family. Not a day will pass without them being thought of," Fr Daly said.
"Both families today are thinking of others - friends of Owen and Brigid who have likewise lost lives in tragedies over these years.
"There are so many tears being shed for them."
Fr Daly prayed for the couple's families who are now caring for their three children - Cádhla, Cliodhna-Rose and Eoin Óg.
Prayers were also said for Siobhan McGowan, who was injured in the road traffic collision.
Ms McGowan was still being treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast yesterday.
