On January 18th, a stalwart of Irish football passed away aged 90.
At the time of his death, Sean Fallon was the oldest surviving person to have played for the Republic of Ireland.
The Sligo-born defender, who had previously represented Longford Town and Sligo Rovers in the League Ireland, wore the green shirt during the 1950s, coinciding with his time at Glasgow Celtic.
It was a club that would play an important role in his life.
After retiring as a Celtic player, Fallon would later return to the club as the assistant to legendary manager Jock Stein.
Last night Off The Ball spoke to author Stephen Sullivan who traced the relatively unheralded life of Sean Fallon in his biography Sean Fallon: Celtic's Iron Man.
"I used to work for Celtic and I got to know him through that," explained Sullivan. "He was a figure most Celtic fans were aware of. I wouldn't blame people outside the Celtic bubble for not knowing his name. He was a tremedous man for a start. A true gentleman. Publishers were bowled over by the scale of his achievements. There's a real argument that he is the greatest talent spotter in the history of British football. You look at Kenny Dalglish, Lou Macari, Packie Bonner, Paul McStay and many of the Lisbon Lions who won the European Cup for Celtic. But he was so humble that he didn't take credit for it."
Sullivan compares Fallon's impact on Stein to the way in which Brian Clough relied on his right hand man Peter Taylor when it came to spotting players and solving issues in the dressing room.
Until he was in his mid-20s, soccer was only his third sport with GAA and swimming taking precedence.
"It was only because he fell victim to the GAA ban on foreign games that he ended up at Sligo Rovers and concentrated more on the football," explained Sullivan.
"He went from Sligo Rovers to Glenavon when he was spotted by a man from Belfast Celtic who recommended him to Glasgow Celtic. Jimmy McGoldrick came over and watched him, before bringing him over. They lied about his age, knocking six years off it because he was worried Celtic might think him too old. He gave Celtic eight years service and became a real legend at the club."
He then fell seamlessly into a partnership with Celtic manager Jock Stein after the latter's appointment as manager in 1965.
Last night we heard Ireland manager Martin O'Neill joke that he would be "bad cop", with Roy Keane as "bad, bad cop". But at Stein's Celtic, the manager was "bad cop" with Fallon as more of a good cop with the players.
"Stein really trusted Sean," said Sullivan. "He signed players without Stein having seen them and he used to go on scouting missions to Europe with Stein. They were great friends and Sean's family called Stein "Uncle Jock".
When Stein suffered a near-fatal car crash in 1975, Fallon was given the manager's job for a year but halfway through that period he came back from holiday to discover that the role had been given to someone else.
Indeed the move to remove Fallon was seen as a way to weaken Jock Stein's power base under a changed board.
But his association with Celtic remained strong and in 2012, he unfurled the league banner at Celtic Park.
