Aodhán Gillen funeral: young Irish League footballer was talented, dedicated, humble, sincere, loving and fun', dad tells mourners

Tributes have poured in from all over Northern Ireland following the death of the 22-year-old from Mayfield Walk in Newtownabbey on Thursday, April 6. He passed away peacefully in the Royal Victoria Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a traffic collision in the Scullions Road area of Mallusk on March 14.

Michael Gillen shared with those gathered for the funeral Mass at St Bernard’s Church in Glengormley on Monday how, in recent months, he and Aodhán had spoken about the importance of being prepared for Heaven. He urged everyone to see the opportunity in his son’s tragic death to “revisit” their own prepardness.

He told how he and his wife Margaret had aimed to be “an ambassador” for Aodhán in all aspects of life.

“As a father I always challenged Aodhán as any typical football manager in the car would do” he said, recalling topics such as ‘You should be down the wing more often, getting the crosses in, shoot more often ...’

He said that in conversations on the journey to work he and Aodhán would often talk about football, life and Liverpool getting beaten, “but more so about our faith as well”.

"A few months ago we had a conversation about preparing. I asked him a number of questions. I asked, ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ He said: ‘Successful in my football career, of course, Dad.’

"Where do you want to be in 30 years?’ He said, ‘I don’t know … retired, a family of my own, married with kids’. ‘What about 70 years?’ He said: ‘Dad, what do you mean, I’ll be dead’.

"I said, ‘Do you not want to be in Heaven?’ My question was quite relevant. I said ‘Aodhán what are you going to do to prepare to be in Heaven? What are you going to do to get there?

"I left that with him and a couple of days later I was walking with him to work and he said, ‘Dad, I’ve been thinking about our conversation the other day and you’re right. I've recently been planning my summer holidays with friends, thinking about clothes, saving up money, thinking about what I'm going to wear and flights. But I haven’t been preparing for the most important journey of my life – getting to Heaven, but I’ll try harder Dad.”

Mr Gillen said Aodhán had faith, he had a shrine in his room and he knew that in the last few months the young footballer, along with the rest of the family, had been “getting better prepared for what can happen in life”.