WATCH: Relive Luke Kelly's last ever Late Late performance on 40th anniversary of his death

It's 40 years since Ireland lost one of its greatest ever troubadours in the shape of Luke Kelly.

The Dubliners legend died on January 30, 1984, at the tender age of 44 after a battle with a brain tumour. 

He remains one of the country's most celebrated folk artists with tribute acts still touring the country today on the back of his legacy. There is also a statue to him in Dublin.

Remembered as a true blue Dub with a distinctive mop of red curls and and even more distinctive voice, Luke Kelly performed for the final time on the RTE Late Late show in 1983, not long before his death.

The song he performed with his bandmates from the Dubliners was fitting indeed, The Night Visiting Song, which features the lines: "I must away now, I can no longer tarry, This morning's tempest, I have to cross, I must be guided, without a stumble, Into the arms I love the most."

At the end of the performance, a visibly ill Luke takes the plaudits of the audience and you can just about hear bandmate Ronnie Drew whisper, 'Good man, Luke' as the camera pans out.

You can relive the haunting performance by a true legend of Irish music at the top of this article.