Zara Murphy was ‘bright and shining’ girl, funeral hears

Zara Murphy (13) lived a “fulfilled” and “bright” life, mourners at her funeral Mass heard on Tuesday.

The Drogheda girl collapsed during a Louth School Girls League (LSGC) match and was taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, where she was pronounced dead last Thursday evening.

Hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respects around 45 minutes before the arrival of her cortege for 11.30am Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Drogheda.

A guard of honour was provided by Drogheda Borough councillors, Newtown Blues FC, Glen Magic FC, Termonfeckin Celtic, the Louth Branch of the Referees Society, Drogheda Boys and Girls FC and her primary school, St Olivers.

Zara is survived by her mother Angela, father Brian and older brother Ben.

Parish Priest of St Peter’s Fr Eugene Sweeney told mourners that the teenager “who lived her life in the present was a bright and shining girl which is what the name Zara means.”

Symbols of her life portraying her life and love of soccer, GAA and beauty were brought to the altar by her friends.

Her burial will take place at Newtown Cross Lawns Cemetery, Termonfeckin Road.