As he prepares to host his first ever Late Late Toy Show, Patrick Kielty is a man under intense pressure.

He's well used to being slap bang in the middle of the spotlight. A tragic personal event, followed by a career in comedy and later in television has prepared the Down native for life in the public eye.

As he gears up for this weekend's big event, he has opened up on where a lot of his early influences came from, the GAA.

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"I was taught by Jarlath Carey who was Headmaster in Sacred Heart Primary School in Dundrum and Jarlath won two All-Ireland medals with Down in ‘60 and ’61. He marked the mighty Mick O’Connell (Kerry) in the 1960 final, and he looked after the teams and so he would have been a massive influence growing up, said Kielty.

"Eddie McKay was the goalkeeper on the Down team in 60-61 and he was from Dundrum, and he was the guy who got me into being the goalkeeper.

"He gave me my senior start and I played senior football for Dundrum whenever I was 15, and then the late, great Pat O’Hare would have been my Games Teacher at St Pat’s Grammar School in Downpatrick. He coached and was the trainer alongside Pete McGrath for Down’s win in 1994. Looking back on it now, there were so many amazing people.

Kielty was a goalkeeper during his playing days and he believes that there are many similarities between the sticks and on the stage.

He said, "Goalkeeping is very much like stand-up comedy: with stand-up you either get a laugh or you don’t and with goalkeeping you either save it or you don’t - there is no middle ground, so I think it suited the personality."

Kielty's goalkeeping career reached rather impressive heights being the subsitute 'keeper for Down's All-Ireland Minor Football Championship win of 1987. He also played alongside his brother, something which he has fond memories of. He said,

"I was on the Down panel for three years. I was a sub the first year when we won the All-Ireland and played the next two years. The team didn’t get out of Ulster, so make of that what you may in terms of a coincidence or not!

"Winning the All-Ireland was the absolute stand out. At the time you didn’t realise how hard they were to win, and you maybe thought the following year when you were playing 'ah well, we are the All-Ireland champions, you know, we’ll probably get as far again,’ so winning was the stand out.

"Playing with the brother, the two of us on the team, the first round of the championship in ‘88 we played Derry, and we won that game, and he scored four points and I didn’t do too bad in nets that day so that was a proud day."

Kielty has worked in live television for many years but insists walking out onto the turf at Croke Park is the most nerve-wracking this he has ever done. He revealed the folllowing,

"It doesn’t get more nerve wracking than running out onto Croke Park. When you are on TV, people think that is a lonely place to be but you’ve got so many people who are helping you look better and making things sound better and try to nurse you through the thing so, the support you get when you are hosting TV, even though it looks like it is just you out there, that’s not the truth.

"Standing in Croke Park, with the game going on and a team on the break and it is only you between the goal there is no lonelier place.

"I hosted the Special Olympics in 2003 and even just standing on that stage walking out on that stage at Croke Park that night, that’s probably the highlight of my career so far and definitely harder than hosting any TV show."

With his new role as host of The Late Late Show, life has been understandably hectic. But he hasn't let that get in the way of his love for the GAA and in particular his native County Down. Kielty said:

"It [the GAA] is massive for me. My brother is still the Chairman of our club in Dundrum, and my younger brother manages one of the teams and my nephew plays in one of the teams and is on the Down minor development panel this year, so we are all very proud of the progress he is making.

"For me, one of the best memories of 2023 would have been bringing my son Milo to the Tailteann Cup final, getting a Down jersey on him, bringing him to Croke Park for the first time. It’s been a long time since a Down man has had a day out there and the result didn’t go our way but once it is part of you, once the GAA is in your fibre and in your family, it doesn’t disappear, thank God."

Kielty's career as a comedian and television personality has been hugely succesful but also, remarkable. Especially considering the events of January 25th 1988 when his father was shot dead by a loyalist paramilitary group. John Kielty was deeply steeped in the GAA and a key figure in Dundrum football. The pitch in the County Down town is named after him and Patrick says it means more and more as the years tick by.

"Having the field named after the aul fella is just the greatest thing. I suppose at the time when it was named after him you didn’t realise what a big deal it is, but then with the passing of time and new generations coming through, it starts to mean that wee bit more.

"They upgraded the floodlights at the pitch last year and I had my two boys over for a couple of weeks, we get over as often as we can, and they were running out on the pitch under the lights and the eldest fella turned around and said ‘dad, dad, these lights are amazing, it never gets dark at Kielty Park.’

"For him to say it never gets dark at Kielty Park - that just put me over the edge so for that pitch to be named after him, it puts a big smile on everybody’s face in the family."

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