Some of the most memorable images taken by Mirror photographer Mick O'Neill
He worked with us for more than 20 years - and produced some of the most memorable news photographs ever taken in Ireland.
Right up until two days before his tragic death in an accident in his native Dublin on Saturday, he was working away, striving to get the best photographs for the Mirror and Star. His commitment to the job he loved and excelled at was famous in Irish journalism.
Just last week, he photographed our Crime Correspondent Paul Healy in a moving interview with Ryan Casey, the partner of murdered Offaly teacher Ashling Murphy. It was Mr Casey's first media interview.
In April of this year, he produced what is undoubtedly the news photograph of the year - when he snapped this stunning image of Michael Kelley in Kenmare, Co Kerry.
The photograph was taken on the farm of then missing farmer Michael Gaine, as Kelley used an axe to chop wood.
I was standing beside him with a few others - but Mick was the only one of us who heard the sound of wood being chopped and realised it was Kelley. He took out his long lens and waited patiently for several minutes before Kelley appeared in the distance - and he framed the shot perfectly.
He also shot exclusive images of Kelley in May after he had been released from Garda custody. Kelley confirmed to Paul Healy he was a suspect for the murder of Mr Gaine - but denied any involvement. The story and Mick's pictures went around the world.
He would no doubt have won an award for that axe pic - like the gong he got earlier this year for this shot of a family caught up in a wave in Howth, Co Dublin.
In February 2016, he took to the skies of Dublin in a light plane and captured remarkable images of the funeral cortege of slain Kinahan ally David Byrne, murdered by the Hutch mob in the gun attack on the city's Regency Airport Hotel.
That killing sparked a bloody spree of revenge by the Kinahan cartel - and Mick was central to our coverage of the feud and the Garda response to it.
The day after the Byrne murder, Mick worked the streets of south Dublin and managed to get this exclusive photo of Daniel Kinahan, Freddie Thompson and Thomas Bomber Kavanagh running together to hold a secret meeting.
He became an expert in covering An Garda Siochana - and cultivated his own personal relationships with many officers.
And he had a knack of being at the right place at the right time - down to instinct and hard work - to grab pictures like this one of a clean shaven Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch enjoying his liberty shortly after he was released from prison in April 2023 after being acquitted of the Byrne murder.
He had a unique skill of being able to frame photos perfectly, even though he may have had only seconds to compose the shot.
In this example from April 2024, he captured the moment I confronted convicted stalker Raymond Dunne in Tullow, Co Carlow. Mick got the perfect shot of Dunne giving me the evil eyes as I gave him my card and told him I was a reporter.
Through hard work and contacts, Mick also heard that Gary Hutch, the Monk's nephew, was back in Dublin in February 2015 and managed to photograph him walking in the city. They were the last photographs taken of him before he was murdered by the Kinahans in Spain in September of that year.
He was on the ground to capture powerful images of Garda squads like the Emergency Response Unit and Armed Support Unit mounting snap checkpoints in a desperate bid to keep a lid on the simmering feud, which would eventually claim up to 18 lives.
Mick was constantly working and was well known in the industry for putting in long hours to make sure he got the photo.
One such example was in June 2018, when he spent several days to get this photo of Scissor Sister killer Linda Mulhall, the first since she was released from prison after serving 15 years for the manslaughter of body in the canal victim Farah Swaleh Noor.
And in September 2021, he lay in a forest for hours to photograph Brian Meehan - the killer of crime reporter Veronica Guerin - enjoying a game of pitch and putt at Shelton Abbey open prison in Co Wicklow.
A few months later, he and I flew to Spain to confront Meehan's boss John Gilligan. We staked him out for several days and Mick got long distance shots of him before we confronted him on the anniversary of the murder - and he scurried away.
He did the same thing when we again confronted him in Torrevieja in June of last year.
Mick regularly went overseas on jobs. In early 2008, he spent a month in Fuengirola covering the search for missing Irish teenager Amy Fitzpatrick. And he covered the case from day one, following every tragic twist and turn - here and in Spain.
He covered the case of the Peru Two, including Irish woman Michaella McCollum, in Lima in August 2013 and went to Mauritius for the case of murdered Tyrone woman Michaela McAreavey in January 2011.
He also went to Lebanon in June 2023, where he captured the work of Irish United Nations peacekeepers on the border with Israel.
He enjoyed covering the Defence Forces and he and I would regularly go to the Glen of Imaal in rural Co Wicklow, where military personnel are put through their paces before going on dangerous missions abroad.
He connected with everyone he met and put people at their ease. That was not more evident than a photograph from January 2023 - when he photographed little Alejandro Mizsan after he returned to his home in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford following hospital treatment for horror wounds he suffered when attacked by a dog.
In 2020, he photographed Sameer Syed at the funerals of his murdered wife amid children in south Dublin. Syed was later charged with their murders and subsequently took his own life.
Although Mick was best known in the business for covering crime, he would turn his hand to any subject - and be a top professional.
In March 2023, he travelled down to Co Clare to photograph Donald Trump enjoying a round of golf at his Doonbeg resort - the same place where he snapped the now US President's son Eric in 2016.
And he had no objection to covering the lighter stories.
He regularly drove around Dublin for pics of people enjoying the weather.
And he would cover the National Ploughing Championships - producing this image of our Showbiz Editor Sandra Mallon enjoying the mud in Ratheniska, Co Laois in 2023.
Mick was a consummate professional, a grafter who put the hours in every day.
He had a gift for getting people to like him and for being calm and keeping his sense of humour in even the most stressful jobs.
He worked with so many journalists over the years and his current crew of Michael O'Toole, Paul Healy, Sandra Mallon, Nicola Donnelly, Laura Colgan, Keith Falkiner, Billy Scanlan and Danny de Vaal, are all devastated by his loss. As is every other reporter and snapper who ever had the honour of working with him.
His friendship, humour, calmness, hard work, and love of tea and buns kept us going on long and hard shifts.
He never stopped working.
We'll never stop missing him.
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