Clannad star devastated at the sudden loss of founder Noel after heart attack in October

The legendary Donegal group was due to play Dublin’s 3Arena next month, but that final show in Ireland will now take place on February 18.

“I spoke to Noel two weeks before he died and he was so looking forward to performing in the 3Arena,” Moya tells the Sunday World.

“He was saying, ‘I’m going to get fit now for the 3Arena once Hallowe’en is over.’ He was very much looking forward to it.”

Recalling the night she heard of Noel’s death on October 15, Moya says: “I got a phone call from my sister saying, ‘I’ve got bad news’. It was a real, real shock. Noel had been out having a meal when he took a heart attack.”

Noel (73) and his identical twin, Padraig, who died in 2016 and had also been a member of the group, were close in age to the three other Clannad members, their niece and nephews Moya and her brothers Pól and Ciarán.

Clannad, who are on their final world tour as they bring down the curtain on the group after 50 years, had already performed across Europe.

“Noel was just phenomenal, he was playing out of his skin,” Pól Brennan says.