Martin McGill was a 'beautiful soul', ‘effervescent’ with kindness, the 'goodness flowed out from him'

Father John Joe Duffy described the 49-year-old, who was among the ten victims of the service station explosion on Friday, as ‘a carer, full of love, full of kindness and compassion’.

“I've always thought it, and I’m not just saying it today, that Martin had a most beautiful soul, a gentle soul, kind person that he was, a person who you could see the goodness flowing out from him.

"It was effervescent, like when you tighten a bottle and give it a shake as a child and make it go all over the place when you open it up. He was just so caring – it flowed out from him,” Fr. Duffy reflected, in his Homily at Martin’s Requiem Mass at St. Michael’s, Creeslough this afternoon.

Martin’s mother Mary was chief among mourners, joined by his sisters Marie, Louise and Caroline, brothers in law, Mathew and Iain, and a wide group of family and friends.

Senior political representatives, including the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and the First Minister designate Michelle O’Neill, and members of the emergency services, were also present at the second of the funerals of the ten victims of Friday’s catastrophe.

Martin’s coffin was carried into the church as the same processional hymn used at his father Joseph’s funeral in February of this year was played, to the air of ‘Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?’

Items of remembrance were placed before the altar. A Celtic jersey to symbolise the 'great love Martin had for his beloved Celtic'. A bottle of Lucozade: ‘It was his hallmark.’ And a loaf of bread to symbolise the countless errands Martin ran for his elderly neighbours in the village.

Fr. Duffy reflected how Martin’s civic and community spirit meant the Applegreen service station that blew up in a suspected gas explosion on Friday was a place he visited often.

“It was, I suppose, against the odds that Martin would not have been in the shop for he went to the shop five times a day or more to bring those errands out for people,” he said.

The congregation heard how Martin and his family epitomised the deep connections between north west Donegal and Glasgow, having been born and raised just outside the city.

"He was born in 1973 in Kirkintilloch near Glasgow going to St. Ninian's High School. He left school and served his apprenticeship as a joiner and then he worked at McGavigan's [John McGavigan Ltd. of Bishopbriggs]. He was so much loved by the community in Kirkintilloch also, very much loved as a child, very much loved as a teenager growing up,” Fr. Duffy said.

Martin returned to his ancestral home just after the turn of the millennium.

“He moved back to Ireland in 2001. He loved his cars and music and of course Celtic. Celtic was so important to him and it will mean a lot to him that Celtic donated a large sum of money, I'm told, to a fund for this accident,” said Fr. Duffy, referring to the The Celtic Football Club’s donation of £10,000 to the Creeslough Community Support Fund.

Fr. Duffy said the fact that Celtic will be observing a minute’s silence and that their players will be wearing black armbands for the Creeslough victims during their UEFA Champions League match against RB Leipzig on Tuesday would ‘make him proud'.

“He always wore that top, that will be my memory of him, wearing that Celtic top always,” said Fr. Duffy, during a poignant service at which the Celtic anthems ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ were both played.

Mourners heard of Martin’s skill in nurturing plants, his love for animals, and of his kind and caring personality.

“Each Sunday he would be in this church, he would be down there, lighting candles. He lit more candles than I ever lit in my life. I don't think anyone could break that record – whatever about Celtic records - no one could break Martin's record of lighting candles and praying for people and getting the newsletters and church bulletins and bringing them out to the community and offering anything he could, often offering me help.

“He was just so friendly. You didn't get one, ‘hello father’, you got three, ‘hello fathers’, in the one sentence. When you weren't quick enough to answer that there were a few more, ‘fathers, how are you?’ That was Martin. Martin just wanted to show that he cared for you and Mary, he will be with his dad now and Jesus tells us that he has gone to prepare a place for Martin so that Martin will be in that room with his dad together.”

Fr. Duffy spoke of Martin’s great love for his family in both Ireland and Scotland and how he had eagerly anticipated visits to Creeslough by the Glasgow connection.

"He always looked forward to being with his dearest, loving and beloved sisters, his nephews and his niece and his brothers in law coming home to visit him. That meant so much.

"He was always looking forward to you coming home to visit your mum and that annual holiday you would have in Ireland was so very special to him, that connection and that love you showed was so, so, so important.”

Fr. Duffy acknowledged that the loss of Martin was devastating. It has left, he said, a ‘huge void for you his family, such a huge loss, such a huge loss for the community’.

The congregation was also told how Martin had been deeply bereaved by the loss of his father Joseph in February of this year.

“Our hope today is that he is now united with his dad who has just gone a short time ahead of him, who he missed very much, whose death was overwhelming for Martin but that he had to care for you his mother was the strenght that got him through.

“His strength was in that he was a caring person, the fact that he was caring person, a person of kindness and compassion, gave him strength, when he had to face bereavement not very long ago when he had to say goodbye to his dad which was most difficult for him.”

Fr. Duffy concluded his sermon by reading from prayer on the back of Joseph’s McGill’s memorial card which Martin was ‘so proud’ had been read at his Funeral Mass earlier this year:

A Cross in My Pocket

I carry a cross in my pocket, a simple reminder to me,

Of the fact that I am a Christian, no matter where I may be.

This little cross is not magic, nor is it a good luck charm.

It isn't meant to protect me, from every physical harm.

It is not for identification, for all the world to see.

It is simply an understanding, between my saviour and me.

When I put my hand in my pocket, and bring out a coin or two,

The cross is there to remind me, of the price he paid for me.

It reminds me too to be thankful, for my blessings day by day,

To strive to serve him better, in all that I do and say.

It is also a daily reminder, of the peace and comfort I share,

With all who know my master, and give themselves to his care.

So I carry a cross in my pocket, reminding no one but me,

That Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life, if only I let him be.

Fr. Duffy concluded: “He was the lord of Martin's life.”

Martin’s coffin was carried from the church to the sound of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, an anthem of his beloved Celtic. He was laid to rest in Doe Cemetery this afternoon.