Few characters of note can boast a monument, Con already has two

“It made me feel like a pioneer who was spreading a new gospel. At the end there was an ovation that couldn’t have been greater if I had scored a goal for Kerry to win an All-Ireland.”

The words of the late journalist Con Houlihan, recalling the moment of his first TV broadcast during the early days of Irish television and the reaction of the audience who watched the spectacle in Tom McCarthy’s pub in Castleisland, Co Kerry.

He was a pioneer in one sense only — he enjoyed his drink and the craic — but he also loved to behold the unexpected and to think beyond the confines of his homeland and his upbringing.