'Michael gave it the profile it wouldn't have had otherwise': Tributes paid to late producer and director O'Carroll

From rallying to car racing, he was the master of telling the story and his voiceovers, in his own distinctive and informative manner, were the templates that stood the test of time.

The late Michael O'Carroll (right) with rally legend Billy Coleman at the Irish Motorsport Show in the RDS Dublin in 2002. Pic: Martin Walsh.

Irish motorsport will never be able repay the debt of gratitude it owes to former RTÉ Sport producer and director Michael O'Carroll (89), who passed away on Wednesday last.

For motorsport fans, O'Carroll, who also wrote a column for the Evening Press that appeared on Wednesdays and was hugely popular, was also the editor of the Irish Motorsport Annual that covered the whole spectrum of the sport, both home and abroad, from 1977 until 2007.