Funeral of Rocco McGinley to be held in Buncrana on Friday

The funeral of Buncrana teenager Rocco McGinely who has died following a battle with a rare brain tumour is to take place on Friday.

Tributes have been paid to the 15-year-old who passed away on Tuesday morning surrounded by his family. He had been diagnosed with an extremely rare type of life-threatening brain tumour in October 2021. 

The third-year student at Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana was treated in Letterkenny University Hospital, and in Dublin at Crumlin Children's Hospital,  Temple Street Children's University Hospital and St Luke’s Hospital.

After a fundraising campaign which raised hundreds of thousands of euro, he received specialist treatment in Houston, Texas.

Guidance staff at Scoil Mhuire have been made available to students as they deal with the loss.

A staunch Manchester United supporter and a keen soccer player, he had joined his year group on a school trip to the Aviva Stadium last March to watch Ireland play Lithuania during his illness.

Principal Rosie Grant said the entire school community "is deeply saddened by the untimely death,” adding that the school’s normally lively corridors “were hushed to silence as the news of Rocco’s death filtered to the staff and students”.

Students were facilitated by staff “to talk, cry, and laugh as they remembered with fondness their many stories of their friend and peer Rocco,” she said.

 “The school community and beyond have been emotionally invested in Rocco’s recovery and this makes the sense of loss even more profound today.”

Rocco had fought “a long and courageous battle,” Ms Grant said, adding that his friends described him as a fun-loving, loyal friend who has been “an inspiration to them all in terms of his resilience and his willingness to fight the illness”.

He received an Outstanding Personal Achievement award at the school’s prize giving in May 2022 for his tremendous courage and strength of character.

He is survived by his parents Yvonne and Wade, his siblings Warren, Jordan, Dean, Cooper, Winter Lily, Arya and Bodhi, his grandparents Carl and Anna McGinley and Mary Hegarty and his extended family.

His funeral is to take place on Friday with requiem Mass at St Mary's Oratory in Buncrana at 10am followed by burial in Cockhill cemetery.