Gerry Noone, whose death took place in Dublin yesterday at the age of 70, was at the forefront of Irish sports journalism for more than 40 years. First as assistant sports editor of the defunct Evening Press, and later in his capacity as sports editor of The Irish Times, he had a profound influence on the evolution of his chosen facet of journalism. Essentially, he was a production man who used the tools of his trade, a flair for page layout and a sharp news sense to brighten the coverage of sport for the papers he served so loyally, for so long.

Yet, like many others, he started out on the road as a freelance reporter with the old Evening Mail, covering football and boxing for the paper which was immensely popular in the metropolitan area in the immediate post-war years. As a player, he was good enough to wear Bohemians' colours in the League of Ireland. From this base, he wrote with some authority on the newsmakers of the day. The era of personalised by-lines hadn't yet dawned, and he indulged his anonymity to provide his readers with intimate details of those involved in the game.

That lasted for a couple of years until, with monumental indiscretion, he saw fit to refer in print to one of his team-mates by his nickname of "Gummy" Smith. In a matter of hours the source of the report was traced, and, with his cover blown, Gerry was handed an ultimatum - to abandon his column or leave the club. Since Bohemians, one of the last bastions of the Corinthian ethos, didn't pay the wages, that amounted to no choice at all. Thus was a promising career lost, in one pithy paragraph of a football report.

Fortunately, the launch of the Evening Press in 1954 took him out of the orbit of irate footballers and into a desk job where, under the pseudonym of The Whistler, he continued to pen one of the best read columns of the day. At this time, too, he was involved in radio reporting, enriching his contributions to the old Soccer Survey programme with a perception and, on occasions, humour which made his reports instantly identifiable. Having left his mark on the singular success of the Evening Press in the 1950s, he moved to The Irish Times in 1961, first as chief sports editor and later as assistant sports editor to the legendary Paul MacWeeney.

While MacWeeney continued to write with flair and conviction on rugby and golf, Noone effectively took responsibility for the sports department and, in that capacity, filled a pivotal role in the expansion of the paper in the 1960s and subsequent decades.

Appointed sports editor in 1974, he remained in that position until 1988 when he was centrally involved in the acquisition of Irish Racing Services by The Irish Times and, for the next five years, devoted himself exclusively to that project. At a time when the image of colourful journalists and dull journalism hadn't yet been reversed, Gerry Noone was a larger-than-life figure whose company was courted by people covering the whole sporting spectrum.

In latter years, he was particularly involved with golf and racing, and numbered among his friends many patriarchal personalities in both sports. In his untimely passing, there is now a huge void.

He is survived by his wife, Dolly, and five children, Deborah, Jean, Clifford, Gregory and Barry. The removal is on Monday night and the funeral on Tuesday morning.