Friends for life; even in death not far apart

TWO FRIENDS gunned down by loyalist renegades - Damien Trainor, a Catholic, and Philip Allen, a Protestant - were buried yesterday in the County Armagh village of Poyntzpass, in different cemeteries.

They lived not far away from each other, socialised together and died together when masked gunmen burst into their local bar earlier this week.

Their families left two and a half hours between the ceremonies so that villagers could attend both funerals. Everybody in the village seemed to be at both.

The next big event in their lives was supposed to be Philip's wedding, with Damien acting as his best man; no one ever thought they would instead be going to their graves together.

Damien's service came first, at the Catholic church in Chapel Street at noon. Philip had his service in the Presbyterian church in Meeting Street, just round the corner, at 2.30pm.

It rained all day, starting before Damien was buried and going on until after Philip was laid to rest. On a grey, cheerless day, the rain was relentless and pitiless as Northern Ireland's stream of killings. In Chapel Street, the village stood in a throng as Damien's coffin was brought slowly into the church. Only the rain broke the silence as Philip's three brothers, drenched, carried the coffin of his friend on its last journey. The little church was packed so most stood outside. Some sheltered under umbrellas while others stood bareheaded, for over an hour, as the service took its course.

Inside, the parish priest, Father Brian Hackett, attempted to address the killers, suggesting that peace might be on its way and thay they might be afraid of peace and of living together.

"If you want to terrorise us, yes we are terrorised, if that's what terrorism is all about. And if you ask us were we scared, yes you have scared us.

"But perhaps I could say to the men of violence - `Were you scared by Damien and Philip?

"Were you scared when you realised there were other Damiens and Philips around Poyntzpass and, as it has come home to us, all over Northern Ireland?"

Perhaps, he suggested, the writing was on the wall for the men of violence.

"Maybe I am a dreamer, maybe we're all dreamers around Poyntzpass but I can ask the question: is it all over bar the shouting?

Maybe the men of violence realise that as we give our support to the peace negotiators."

A little while later the village lined Railway Street as Philip's body was carried along it, his grieving family oblivious to the falling rain, clinging to each other for support and solace.

His fiancee was among them, going not to a wedding, as she had hoped, but to a burial.

The men of the village fell in behind the cortege as it passed, nodding sombrely to one another.

The coffin paused for a moment at the Railway Bar where the gunmen had carried out their murderous work, and which is now marked by a little pile of bouquets.

In the Presbyterian church, the Rev Joseph Nixon spoke of the two victims: "Philip was one of the lads around the village and was like a brother to Damien.

"Philip was a young man of good character and a steady worker. Damien was always obliging, a bright and cheery person. He was well-liked and admired.

"There is no difference between Catholic and Protestant. We are all God's creation. We are all flesh and blood. The terrorist's bullet has the same effect on us all. It robs us of life and plunges our families into grief and despair."

The Presbyterian moderator, Dr Sam Hutchinson, echoed Father Hackett's endorsement of the political talks. "It seems to me that there is no alternative to the path of negotiation and no better time than the present.

"Please support any effort to make the whole of Northern Ireland the kind of harmonious community that Poyntzpass has been for so long."

Back at the Railway Bar, two officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary stooped to read the inscriptions on the flowers, which had been placed around a small red candle, which despite the rain somehow stayed alight.

One card said "Unreal but true - our hearts are numb and ache with pain at this unbearable loss of Philip and Damien."

Another described how Poyntzpass will always remember them: "Great friends in life, now greater in death."