Diarmuid O'Flynn: Laughing with my dying brother

Once a big brother, always a big brother, and Donal was made for it, a natural. 

Donal O'Flynn and his wife Kathleen on honeymoon 44 years ago. They were joined in Connemara by his brother Con and his wife Dolores (left) and his brother Diarmuid and wife Siobhán (right).

There we were, three brothers, Con, 71, on one side, myself, 72, on the other, Donal, 73, in the middle, and as ever when we were together, the stories started. 

Fishing, hurling, rugby, drinking; not the ties that bind us – a very close family – but the threads.