GAA legend James McCartan has been laid to rest after a "send-off fit for a king" in a small Co Down parish church overlooking Carlingford Lough.
Coronavirus restrictions inside St Mary's Church in Burren meant members of Down county teams "down through the years" were among the crowd listening to the service outside via loudspeakers.
The former county player and manager died peacefully on Saturday at his Ryan Road home in Mayobridge, where scores of neighbours stood in silent tribute as he left for the final time with the cortège yesterday morning.
Canon John Kearney's tribute to the sporting giant as "above all else a people person" was confirmed by the numbers of friends, acquaintances, former work colleagues and fans determined to pay their respects in person.
Those who were unable to - among them Mr McCartan's grieving sister Delia in Australia - watched instead on a live feed from the church.
GAA president Larry McCarthy led the association's attendance, with those who played alongside and under the county hero forming a guard of honour.
Inside his beloved wife Marie - with whom he would have celebrated 54 years of marriage next month - was supported by children Brian, James, Delia, Charlie Pat, Maria, Daniel, Eoin and `adopted' son John Byrne, the child of a close friend who they took into their home following the death of his parents.
His grandchildren offered gifts to symbolise the loves of his life - a picture of his family, one of Tullyraine Quarry where he worked for more than 30 years, of Lagan View "where he grew up and reared his family", of his champion greyhound Gullion Lad and his Down jersey and his 1960 All Ireland medal.
Canon Kearney reflected on Mr McCartan's 83 years "lived with life and vigour", until last week "it became clear that he had come to the end", he and his family "grateful for the extra years that God gave them".
He recalled how "one of the outstanding footballers of the sixties" brought joy and hope beyond his own county when they won the Sam Maguire in 1960 and 1961.
"Taking it across the border for the first time - there was much more to it than the medals and the celebration that went with it.
"It was a difficult time in the six counties here in the north, but Down's achievements gave us a real sense of value, of self-worth and of confidence to face the future.
"They sent out a clear message - that if we put our minds to it and worked hard we could achieve great things."
Down County chairman John Devaney said James McCartan was "a brave and a clever footballer on the greatest half-forward line of them all on one of the finest teams to grace the game", whose sporting accolades "only tell a part of the story".
"This is a man whose life and whose character was moulded and chiselled from the quarry of Tullyraine, from the farming fields of Co Down, from the friendships that were forged, from the journeys taken, from the greyhound tracks and all of the great arenas that he graced.
"From the family homes that he and Marie made... where children were reared, where grandchildren bustled with the fumes of excitement and growing number around them, where football games were taught and played, where arguments were raised and settled.
"... Right to the very end James McCartan was unbreakable, stubborn, argumentative, but seldom wrong. What endures beyond him is his warmth, this generosity and his humour."
The priest said when he passed away at the weekend "he had his work done, his prayers said... he had his bags packed".
"And even though he clung to life with grit and determination in the last days that God gave him, his final illness and the discomforts it brought eventually wore him out of life.... (and) death came softly and gently like a ripe fruit falling from the tree of life".
His son Daniel recalled how he had revelled in his nickname `King James' and would be "that crazy person" on the sidelines "screaming at the referee, opposition or someone else at the ground" when his children took their turns on the field and how "everything stopped for football".
He hailed his father's friends from all the walks of his life - from GAA to dogs, horses and work whom "he held in high esteem".
"Thank you for not forgetting about him, because he would never let us forget about you."
The family "from Eileen at the top to Eoin at the bottom, everyone had their own little ways of caring for my father" and his mother "gave up your life for my father, especially over the last 12 years and never left his side - your care for him is the reason he stayed with us so long, of that there is no doubt".
Of his father, Daniel McCartan said simply: "They say you should never meet your hero as you'll be disappointed. Well my family do not believe in that - we lived with ours... To our family he was the centre and heartbeat."
"He has to take the field for a match at 3pm. Some of his team-mates are already there and his cousin Dominic is out front ready to lift him, with his friends Sean Blaney and Noel Murdock in the back of the car."
