A mourner placed a pool cue on the altar of the funeral of former Love/Hate actor Stephen Clinch, referencing the series' most memorable scene.
Clinch, 56, played the role of Noely in the hit RTE gangland series and was infamously involved in a savage jail assault in which a pool cue was used to attack Fran in the final episode.
Peter Coonan, who played Fran, once said it was a “tough” scene to film and took as long as eight hours to finish.
Today at Clinch's funeral mass in the Church of Our Lady Immaculate in Darndale, Dublin, a mourner placed a pool cue as part of the gifts brought to the altar for the father-of-three.
Crowds gathered to walk with the hearse with mourners wearing Celtic jerseys in memory of Clinch, who died unexpectedly last Tuesday.
Read More: Heartbreaking tributes paid to Love/Hate star at funeral mass after shock death
A bagpipe player led the coffin as it made its way through the community before his cremation at Dardistown Crematorium.
Among the mourners included fellow Love/Hate actor and Cardboard Gangsters star John Connors as well as Martin Collins, co-director of Traveller and Roma rights organisation.
Mr Connors said: “He wrote songs, he sang. He played the drums, he played the guitar. And he was a brilliant actor. He actually never acted a day in his life. He was real.”
Clinch himself was jailed for three years in 2016 for his role in an armed robbery. He had historical convictions for robbery and burglary during a time of addiction in his earlier life up to 2004.
Fr Michael O’Connor said Clinch knew he had made mistakes in life, and would talk to a previous priest in the parish about the possibility of talking to young people about their lives, and how choices you make can affect you for life.
He also told of how Clinch was once one of a group from the area that climbed Croagh Patrick to raise funds for the local New Life Centre. “A man with a heart,” he said.
Clinch is survived by his partner Karen, children Shauna, Stephen and Alan, grandchildren and wider family.
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