Malachy Clerkin: Ciara Mageean carried herself with grace, wit and a fundamental beauty of the soul
“Have you ever seen that movie White Chicks?” Ciara Mageean asked, laughing as she told a story against herself. She was describing an afternoon in St Vincent’s hospital when she had an appointment for a scope on her bowel. Before they go in with the camera, they need to, eh, clear the area – and now the laxative given to her by the nurse was kicking in with a vengeance. Only problem was, she had an elderly man in front of her, already using the nearest toilet.“You know the scene?” she said, “One of the lads needs the toilet and he’s like, ‘Move, bitch!’ and barges past a girl in the loos – I was nearly like that with this wee old man. I was like, ‘Is he going to come out of that toilet? Is he coming out? Because if he doesn’t, there’s going to be a disaster all…