Olympic medallist Ó Lionáird to be laid to rest in Inchigeela today

Olympian and European indoor medallist Ciarán Ó Lionáird will be laid to rest in Cork later today.

The 38-year-old athlete was found dead in a hotel in Vancouver, Canada, on June 9.

Ó Lionáird’s body has been repatriated to Ireland, and he will be buried in Inchigeela this afternoon.

He lay in repose in Casey’s Funeral Home in Inchigeela on Tuesday evening.

His funeral Mass will take place in St Finbarr and the Holy Angels Church in Inchigeela at 2pm this afternoon, with burial afterwards in the local cemetery.

Ó Lionáird grew up outside Inchigeela, and he first joined the West Muskerry Athletic Club before moving on to Leevale.

In 2005, Ó Lionáird won a 1,500m bronze medal at the European Youth Olympics in Lignano, Italy.

The following year, he enrolled at the University of Michigan on a scholarship.

He represented Ireland at the 2012 Olympic Games, and won bronze for Ireland in the 2013 European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg in the 3,000m.

Ó Lionáird announced his retirement from athletics before the Rio Olympics in 2016, and has been based in the US for more than a decade.

He is survived by his parents and two brothers.

Ó Lionáird’s death notice said that he “will be fondly remembered by his wide circle of friends in the athletics community in Cork, throughout Ireland, and across the USA, as well as by the many colleagues and friends whose lives he touched”.