Cole (85) died with his family by his side at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Dublin last Wednesday, after a three year battle with incurable lung cancer.
Fr Brian D’Arcy, a friend of Cole’s, led the funeral Mass of the legendary Monaghan musician, at St Mary’s Church, in his hometown of Castleblaney.
Members of his band The Superstars, fellow Monaghan musician, Gerry Black, Twink, John McColgan and Donie Cassidy as well as aide de camps of President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Micheál Martin attended.
“He was a wonderful character,” Fr D’Arcy told the Irish Independent, adding that Cole, his friend for half a century, had rang him up the day he received his terminal…