HUNDREDS OF people took to the streets of Ballina yesterday to pay tribute to legendary football star Jack Charlton.
Charlton, who passed away last week at the age of 85, was fully accepted as an honorary Irishman after he led the Republic of Ireland team to its greatest ever year in the 1990 World Cup-- known here simply as Italia 90.
While the man himself was laid to rest in England yesterday, Ireland also paid its respects in different ways.
Every Irish radio station played Put Em Under Pressure at 12.30pm, the time Jack's funeral was due to start, and hundreds gathered at Walkinstown Roundabout, where 30 years ago the people celebrated in their masses to welcome the team back from Italy.
But it was in Ballina, Co Mayo, which Jack Charlton proudly referred to as his 'second home', where his legacy was remembered in a more physical way than trading stories and memories about the incredible summer when Ireland made it all the way to the quarter-finals.
Local Councillor Mark Duffy, who was present at the unveiling and who helped organise a proper send off for the honorary Mayo man, invited people to gather at 12.29 pm for a minute's silence before Put Em Under Pressure would play over the speakers and the mural would be unveiled from behind the world's largest Mayo flag.
The mural did not disappoint: created by local artists Smiler Mitchell, Derek Leonard, Martin Devaney and Philip McCafferty, the painting shows 'Big Jack' raising a pint of Guinness, 'toasting the fishermen on the world famous Ridge Pool, his favourite place to fish'.
Image: Ballina.ie & Ballina Chamber of Commerce / FacebookWhile the population of Ireland was shaken by the passing of the football legend, communities across the country banded together to give him the send-off he deserved-- he was one of us, after all.
You can check out the moment the Ballina mural in tribute to Jack Charlton was unveiled in the video below-- from the sombre minute's silence to the sheer joy and celebration as Put Em Under Pressure blasts out across the speakers.
Thanks, Jack.
