A family has spoken of their shock and sadness at the sudden passing of their beloved mother and wife at a family wedding.

Mary Meehan (71), from Monea, was at the wedding of her niece in the Kilmore Hotel, Cavan on at the weekend when she suddenly fell ill.

She was rushed to Cavan General Hospital where she later passed away.

Speaking to this newspaper, her daughter Ann-Marie Broomhead spoke of the shock of losing her mother so quickly and the hole that it has left in their lives.

“It’s just unbelievable to be honest,” said Mrs. Broomhead. “We didn’t expect her to go as quickly as she did.

“There is a massive hole left and nobody can ever replace or be able to replace mummy. As the man says you have two pieces of your heart, one is your mum and one is your dad and one piece is gone now.”

Mrs. Broomhead described how her mother had not been feeling well the morning of the wedding but still went to take part in the ceremony.

“We were with her at home in the morning and she was saying she wasn’t 100 percent but she went to the wedding and did her duty at the service. She was just her wee, joyful, bubbly self and had fun with everybody and we were sitting drinking coffee and chatting and she was looking at photos on my aunt’s phone and my aunt asked her what she thought of that and her speech became slurred.

“She was a diabetic and we thought it was that but it was actually a bleed in the brain.”

Mrs. Broomhead paid tribute to the staff at Cavan General Hospital and the staff at the Kilmore Hotel.

“She was a bright, loveable, precious woman and she will be dearly missed. Everybody loved her and she was the life and soul of the party and she loved us all.”

Mrs. Meehan is survived by her husband Pat, daughters Ann-Marie, Michelle and Patricia and wider family circle.

Her funeral, conducted by Damian McGovern Funeral Directors, took place yesterday (Wednesday) at the Church of Immaculate Conception in Monea with burial in the adjoining cemetery.