MURDERED student Cameron Blair will be laid to rest today, with large crowds of friends and family expected at the funeral Mass in Bandon.

Mr Blair, a second-year chemical engineering student at CIT, died after being stabbed in the neck on Bandon Rd in Cork city on January 16.

A teenage boy appeared before a special sitting of Cork District Court on Friday night charged with the murder.

Bandon Rugby Club and Athletics Club are to form a guard of honour at the funeral in St Peter’s Church today.

Mr Blair was a former pupil of Bandon Grammar and Hamilton High School. 

He was a native of Ballinascarthy and was well known in athletic and rugby circles.

Since his murder, Cameron has been remembered as a young man who was full of compassion for others.

In recent days, a woman identified only as Sophie, spokes to the Opinion Line on 96fm and said Cameron was a good friend of her daughter in school.

“It’s important to focus on the special person he was, to celebrate his life, his spirit and his energy and the impact he had on the other children around him,” she said.

“My daughter describes him as a hero and a celebrity in the school. He was full of energy and spirit and love.

“He had a very broad vocabulary and a magical imagination and he wasn’t like many other boys that she would have engaged with.” 

Sophie also told how Mr Blair used to send her daughter a text after she came home from school to make sure she got home alright.

“He had kindness and empathy and compassion.” 

Mr Blair's funeral will take place today at 2pm in St Peter’s Church, Bandon, followed by burial in Kilbeg Cemetery.

A one-way traffic system will operate on the L3064, with all traffic accessing the Blair home from the main N71 Bandon-Clonakilty road on Bandon side of Pedlars Cross.