Broadcasting veteran Gerry Kelly was "the voice of sanity during insane times" and a "real legend who will never die", his funeral has heard.
The former UTV and BBC Radio Ulster presenter conducted many high-profile interviews, including with an eight-year-old Rory McIlroy as the young golfer chipped balls into a washing machine.
Kelly was installed in the Royal Television Society Hall of Fame in 1998 in recognition of his contribution to broadcasting.
In 2018, he revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer two years earlier.
Hundreds attend service
Hundreds attended the service at St Nicholas Church in Ardglass, with The Priests – the band interviewed multiple times by Kelly – performing at the mass.
Among some of the well known faces among the mourners included former UTV presenter and now Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, Oscar winner James Martin and his father Ivan, UTV alumni Lynda Bryans, Fearghal McKinney and Chris Moore, singer Peter Corry, entertainer John Lenihan and journalist Eamonn Mallie.
Eulogy by Father Brian D'Arcy
Father Brian D'Arcy, who shared a longstanding professional relationship with Kelly, said his friend was "loved by thousands and thousands of people, north and south of the border".
"There's a sadness everywhere because Gerry was such a comforting presence," he said.
"This may be something that's not often thought about, but when you think back to the times that we lived in in those days, when his show on a Friday night, trying to get guests into Belfast that was being bombed, trying to compete with the Late Late and with other shows across the land, trying to be a regional broadcaster with a national reputation – that was no easy task and Gerry did that with an amazing amount of professionalism.
"But most of all, just the warmth and the joy and the peace and the comfort of his personality, and he gave us a sense of comfort, a sense of sanity during insane times, and only a broadcaster of his reputation, his ability, could do that and carry us through a time that was such a difficult time to come through.
"I don't think he ever got the credit for being the voice of sanity during insane times, and it took a lot out of him doing that. It wasn't easy."
He added: "It was Seamus Heaney who said that beautiful thing, 'If you have the words, there's always the chance you'll find a how'.
"And Gerry had the words, and Gerry knew how to use words, and Gerry knew how to persuade people who didn't want to come within a thousand miles of Belfast to come in and be guarded and be brought to studios and hopefully get home safe from it.
"He had the words and he had the know-how to do it.
"Gerry Kelly was a legend in broadcasting, one of the few legends that we've ever had, but a real legend who will never die."
Prepared for death
Fr D'Arcy said that over the 17 years of the Kelly Show, the broadcaster hosted 1,000 hours of live TV, interviewing 3,500 guests with more than 1,500 musical acts.
He said the pair had a long conversation about "the possibilities of life, the possibilities of death" when Kelly received his terminal diagnosis.
"He was prepared for his last days," Fr D'Arcy said.
"He prepared the last interview with Saint Peter as well as he prepared his first interview on Kelly, he was ready, prepared for it.
"His faith was strong."
Quoting Irish poet John O'Donohue, he added: "'Let us not look for you only in memory, where we would grow lonely without you. You would want us to find you in presence, beside us when beauty brightens, when kindness flows, and when music echoes the eternal tones'.
"That's Gerry.
"Gerry, may you continue to inspire us from your place in heaven. You deserve your rest, my dear friend. Rest in peace."
