‘She was the best of us’: Portaferry mourns loss of local champion Ciara Mageean

On Church Street in Portaferry, a large poster of Ciara Mageean’s smiling face overlooks the town square.“Go Ciara Go!” it says, wishing her good luck in advance of the 2024 Olympic Games.“Our poster is still up; we never took it down,” says Tracy McCarthy, owner of Fiddler’s Green pub.“She was just everything to this town.”READ MOREIt is a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the coastal Co Down town where the Irish Olympian and European athletics champion grew up.It is a town in mourning.Hours earlier, a statement on Mageean’s social media confirmed the 34-year-old had “lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones” at 6.30am.[ Irish Olympian and European champion Ciara Mageean dies aged 34Opens in new window ]McCarthy received a text at 8.30am from one of Mageean’s brothers saying that she had died. “This is the day that everyone has dreaded,” she says, breaking down. “There’s no words to describe the heartbreak and devastation in this town today.”A former pupil of St Mary’s Primary School, Portaferry and Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch, Mageean often visited the schools after competing.“Even when Ciara was a kid, every time she won a medal she was over that hill doing a talk at St Mary’s, showing them her medals. Then she’d be straight over to Assumption. We couldn’t have been prouder of her.”In the town square, Claire Sheehan recalls the joy of Mageean’s homecomings when she stepped off the Strangford ferry with her medals.“We would be out cheering her on at the boat, and people lined the streets,” she says.“It’s such a small town, but she was such a big inspiration to everybody. Everyone was behind her the whole time. Ciara was a year older than me and I would know her family really well as I’m a nurse in the community. Her death is devastating, absolutely devastating. Everybody is just numb.”In an interview with The Irish News in January 2025, Mageean described spending time with her three spaniels and trekking through fields up to Windmill Hill as her “perfect day in Portaferry”.On Sunday, Paul Sheehan points to the hill that has spectacular panoramic views of Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea.The last time Sheehan saw Mageean was out walking with her father, Chris “Hunter” Mageean, in Portaferry a few months ago.“I was out with the dog and Hunter was out with his spaniels. They shouted over to me,” he says. “The way I described her to somebody this morning was that she was one of the best athletes in the world. But Ciara was just always Ciara – there was no airs or graces about her. She would never go by you.” [ Ciara Mageean in her own words: ‘I was told she didn’t want to coach me any more’Opens in new window ]Mageean and long-term partner Thomas Moran married three weeks ago at Belfast City Hall, with the wedding celebration taking place in Co Louth last weekend.Photographs were released on her Instagram.“Seeing her wedding pictures, she was just gorgeous going round Belfast having the best time ever,” says Jacqueline Buckle, wiping tears away.“I knew her. If you ever met her at Assumption – my two girls went there – she always would have been over for a word because you were from Portaferry. My daughters told me earlier this morning and I didn’t want it to be true. It was gut-wrenching. She was just the loveliest girl. Such a great ambassador for Portaferry, and not just sport. The grit and determination to get through what she did.”Following her diagnosis with stage four bowel cancer in May last year, Mageean continued to watch camogie games at her home club in Portaferry, St Patrick’s GAC.Ann Sands, a close friend of the Mageean family and club member, recalls how inspiring she was.“If she was home, she was in the park [St Patrick’s] for whatever game was on. She was always so chatty,” she says.Sands’ brother and sister attended Mageean’s wedding celebration last weekend. “We knew how poorly she was, but we lived in the hope of a miracle if I’m being truthful,” she says. “She was the best of us, she really was. She’s been like that since she was a child. Today has been a sombre day, a very sombre day.”