Larger-than-life sheep farmer becomes an internet hit again

Two years ago, sheep farmer Joe Kelly became an unlikely internet sensation at the age of 76. Now he’s going ‘viral’ again, but this time as a work of art.

Images of the larger-than-life pensioner, with his long white hair and cowboy hat, have been lighting up social media again in recent days, thanks to a portrait drawn by Cork artist Leila Doherty.

Joe was one of three men captured on camera by Irish Examiner photographer Dan Linehan as they celebrated the reopening of the Top of Coom after their local pub, claimed to be the highest in Ireland, was destroyed in a devastating fire in 2012.