{"id":284237,"date":"2026-01-14T17:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/284237\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T17:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:10:07","slug":"cavan-man-who-drowned-in-australia-remembered-as-hero-at-funeral-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/284237\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavan man who drowned in Australia remembered as hero at funeral \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish man Sean Keaney, who drowned in Australia<\/a> on New Year\u2019s Eve, was a \u201ckind and generous\u201d person, who \u201ctouched so many people and packed so many good times into his short life,\u201d his funeral Mass has heard.<\/p>\n

Originally from Ballinagh, Co Cavan<\/a>, but living in Hanwell, London, Mr Keaney (35) drowned at the popular Whitehaven Beach<\/a> on Whitsunday Island, near the Great Barrier Reef. <\/p>\n

His family said he lost his life trying to save others on the beach. <\/p>\n

Speaking at his funeral on Wednesday, his sister Breda described him as \u201cthe kind of person who lifted the mood of the room just by walking into it\u201d.<\/p>\n

He had, she said, an \u201canimated manner of telling a story and a giant presence on the dance floor\u201d and was \u201cso generous with his time for everyone in his life\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was described as having loved travelling and over the past couple of years had been to a number of countries including Vietnam and Guatemala.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis final trip was one he had been looking forward to for a long time … We heard stories from people he met on his final days \u2013 people who felt they knew him a long time \u2013 that was the effect he had on people,\u201d Breda said. <\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people watched the funeral\u2019s live stream and a large crowd gathered at St Joseph\u2019s Church in Drumkilly, Co Cavan. <\/p>\n

Football was a huge part of his life and a Manchester United jersey was among the gifts brought to the altar. <\/p>\n

In a tribute posted online, Tara GFC, the London GAA club for which he played for the past four years, described his death as \u201cheartbreaking\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were incredibly lucky to have Sean by our side as we celebrated last year\u2019s and this year\u2019s Championship victories … Sean will be unbelievably missed by us all,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cavan man who drowned in Australia is named as tributes paidOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He formed \u201cimportant friendships\u201d during his time at University College Dublin, where he obtained a bachelor\u2019s degree in civil engineering, for which his parents were \u201cso incredibly proud\u201d, his sister said at the funeral. <\/p>\n

He was \u201cexceptional at what he did\u201d, his sister said, and later formed a business with his brother, Matt, who also spoke at the funeral. He thanked those who contributed to a fundraiser in his brother\u2019s memory, and in support of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, a charity dedicated to easing the financial burden for bereaved families repatriating loved ones who die abroad. The fundraiser raised more than \u00a3123,000 (\u20ac141,000). <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all hurting together and the support has been incredible … Thanks to you all for donating your hard-earned money to this charity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSean tragically lost his life trying to save others on the beach,\u201d for which his family and others described him as \u201cheroic\u201d, Matt said, adding: \u201cWe are so proud of you Sean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Keaney is predeceased by his father Charlie, and survived by his mother Bridie, his sisters Cathriona, Fiona, Breda, Katie, brothers Matt, Cathal and Thomas, and extended family and friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish man Sean Keaney, who drowned in Australia on New Year\u2019s Eve, was a \u201ckind and generous\u201d person,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1128,9,10,42554,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-284237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-cavan","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115894565393129362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}