Marty Whelan says he would ‘delighted’ if Patrick Kielty landed the Late Late Show gig

“I was wondering what he was doing at the IFTAs,” Whelan said. “I thought ‘Has Cat Deeley won an award?’ I said. That was my immediate thought. I wondered why he was there.”

Marty Whelan worked with Kielty on reality TV series Celebrity Bainisteoir.

“People with no concept of how to train a GAA team did it and I did it and I played against him and again he won and I rest my case,” he said.

“If it is him I would be delighted because he is a good guy and I think he would do a very good job. As would many of the other people. But my phone hasn’t started ringing so I think we all know what that means.”

Kielty attended the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) on Sunday night where he was asked about the presenting job.

“I think that the Late Late Show is one of the greatest TV shows on the planet and whoever gets it is going to be really lucky,” Kielty said.

“I think something that maybe hasn’t been said, I’ve done chat shows before and I know how difficult they are. I’ve been a guest on the Late Late Show and I’ve sat alongside Ryan doing his stuff and whoever gets that gig will have huge, huge shoes to fill.”

When asked about the speculation linking him to the high-profile role, his wife told reporters at the film ceremony: “Let’s see if he can get it and we should talk about it then.”

Kielty is the favourite to land the gig after Claire Byrne, Sarah McInerney and Miriam O’Callaghan all ruled themselves out.