Johnny Duhan was honoured on Late Late Show Trad Fest(Image: Instagram/latelaterte)

Late Late Show viewers touched by 'beautiful' tribute to late, great Johnny Duhan on TradFest special

by · Irish Mirror

Late Late Show viewers were touched by a “beautiful” tribute to the late, great Johnny Duhan on the TradFest special.

The Late Late Show returned for the first time in 2025 on Friday, kicking things off with a TradFest special to showcase the best of Ireland’s established and emerging musical talents.

Host Patrick Kielty was joined by the established and emerging musical talent such as folk singer songwriter Aoife Scott, musician Wallis Bird, singer songwriter Mike Hanrahan and sean-nós singer Sean Keane, to name but a few.

READ MORE: RTE Late Late Show viewers unimpressed by Patrick Kielty's 'cringe' opening jokes

READ MORE: RTE Late Late Show returns to screens for first show of 2025 with TradFest special

The cast of musicians also paid a moving tribute to Johnny Duhan, who lost his life off the coast of Co. Galway last November.

Dubbed as Ireland's greatest by legendary folk singers such as Christy Moore and Ronnie Drew, Johnny was best known for his song The Voyage, enjoying enormous success as a singer-songwriter and guitarist over many years.

Viewers were moved by the tribute, and particularly touched by Mike Hanrahan, who took lead vocals on the musicians' rendition of his best loved song.

RTÉ's The Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty(Image: Andres Poveda)

One person wrote: "Mike Hanrahan singing 'The Voyage' on Late Late Show is just [loveheart emojis]. Beautiful tribute to the late great Johnny Duhan".

"A beautiful tribute by the gent that is Mike Hanrahan," a second wrote.

Another person shared: "What a great version of The Voyage by Mike Hanrahan and others." While a fourth gushed: " Great tribute to Johnny".

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