Two of the best there ever was

THE world of journalism lost one of their finest last week, with the death of Hugh McIlvanney.

84-years-old and retired from the Sunday Times since 2016 he was surely the most talented sports journalists of his generation.

Although primarily a soccer writer, he covered many, many sports from horse racing, golf to boxing and Olympic Games and witnessed at first hand many stories which transcended the sports pages.

From a different generation, he had legendary close relationships with some of the giants of the game in England and Scotland, such as Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson and gave knowledgeable insights into those men.

His death comes less than six months after the passing of James Lawton, another lengendary football journalist, who regularly featured in the Irish Independent.

Both men wrote brilliant pieces of copy and were worth the cover price of their newspapers alone.

The world of journalism is changing with online publications, websites and podcasts.

Never before have we had so much content on multiple platforms, but both these journalists were all about quality.

If you are a chef you admire and appreciate the best and finest there is and marvel at their skill and creativity, if you play a bit of guitar or sing a few notes, you wonder at the best in the business.

Hugh McIlvanney and James Lawton were amongst the very best there has been in their particular genre of journalism.