Kilkenny mourns a talented sportsman and passionate farmer

A talented hurler, a passionate farmer, a great son, brother and uncle and friend was remembered at the funeral Mass of James Nolan.

Father Willie Purcell told the heartbroken congregation at St Colman’s Church in Clara that James ‘will live forever in our hearts’.

“Our hearts are broken, they are truly broken,” he told the mourners inside the church and the hundreds who stood outside to pay their respect to James and his family and to those all around the world watching the funeral via the parish webcam.

“Last Friday morning a great silence came over our parish and our community, which reflected the immense sorrow and the depth of that sorrow.

“James had a short life but it was a life lived to the full. He lived every moment of it.”

A community united in grief attended the funeral Mass of a talented sportsman and farmer who was killed in collision, close to his family home in Clara, last Friday.

Shiner, as he was affectionately known, was remembered as a popular and personable man, full of character and who had ‘a roguish smile and laugh’.

“It was infectious and he made you laugh,” Fr Willie Purcell told mourners.

The priest also said that he was told that as a child James was asked in primary school what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“He said a hurler and a farmer.”

James Nolan achieved both and did so magnificiently playing for his school, his club Clara and his county, Kilkenny.

“He loved hurling, soccer and athletics. He immersed himself in all the gifts that God had given him. He embraced and loved

every aspect of his sporting life.”

The much-loved family man also adored farming at the family farm.

“He had a great ability to light up a room and to make you smile.

“He loved farming, he loved the land, the animals and everything about it.”

Speaking at the funeral Mass, Fr Purcell told the congregation that James will continue to live on in their hearts when they

remember him and share memories of him.

“Our parish is silent, our community is silent, but God is not silent. We have witnessed the compassion and love of God in these

past four days in the people who have come and sympathised with James’ family.

“James will live forever in our hearts. The one thing that death can never take from us is love. Death cannot destroy love.

“Shiner shined in this life, this world and he is now shining brightly in heaven.”

Gifts brought to the altar to celebrate the ‘great life’ and ‘wonderful character’ of James included a family photograph, a hurl

and a sliotar and a football to recognise his sporting achievements in hurling, soccer and athletics, a book on GAA jokes  to reflect

James’ ‘quick wit and humour’ and a copy of The Farmer’s Journal representing his ‘passion, talent and dedication for farming

with his parents, Gerry and Brigid.

James was laid to rest following the funeral Mass at the cemetery at St Colman’s Church in Clara. 

He is pre deceased by his brothers John and Thomas, his grandparents John and Margaret Nolan and Thomas and Ellen Breen and is the cherished and much loved son of Gerry and Brigid and beloved brother of Dermot, Margaret, Elaine, Catherine, Peter and Claire.

He is sadly missed by his heartbroken family, brothers-in-law Patrick and Michael, sisters-in-law Carolyn and Chloe, 

Catherine's partner Seán, Claire's partner Kevin, his adored nephews and nieces Bríd, Méabh, John, Róisín, Eoin, Pádraic,

Eimear, Micheál, Conor, Áine and Billy, uncles and aunts, cousins, granduncle and grand aunts, extended family, neighbours and

his friends.