Bill O’Herlihy: ‘We’ll leave it there, so ...’

“We’ll leave it there, so,” as he’d say himself, but let’s face it — we don’t want to.

Bill O’Herlihy entered the great studio in the sky yesterday, not quite a year since he retired from his role as the nation’s top sports anchorman with the finale to the 2014 World Cup.

Looking back, maybe the manner of his departure that night characterised his 49-year tenure in national broadcasting. “Now hold on Bill,” Eamon Dunphy said as the Corkman signed off. Then began the tributes segment, and as the clips rolled and the kind words poured in, Bill didn’t collapse into an emotional wreck, but instead smiled graciously, possibly a little embarrassed by all the fuss — and then thanked everyone else.