Marty Morrissey's mother Peggy Twomey "meant the world" to him, according to his RTE colleague Darren Frehill.
Ms Twomey was the sole occupant of a car that crashed at Annagh in Miltown Malbay shortly after midnight.
Emergency services rushed to the scene where she was sadly pronounced dead.
RTE sport journalist Darren Frehill spoke about Morrissey this morning on RTE Radio One and said he knew Marty “meant the world” to his mother.
Frehill said it was “desperately sad” and a “devastating loss” and his mam was “extremely popular” in her local community.
Tributes are being paid to Ms Twomey, with Shane Talty, a Fianna Fáil Councillor for Ennistymon, describing the news as a "terrible tragedy".
He told the Irish Mirror: "There's huge shock and upset in the local community.
"Everybody's thoughts are with Marty and the wider family circle, and we hope they'll be supported through the next few days.
"Peggy would have had a wonderful life and was a great woman and had a great network of family and friends and had all the positives you would like to see everyone have in their lives.
"It's just a particularly tragic end to that."
Morrissey, an only child, lived in New York with his parents until he was eleven.
But he moved to his beloved Clare after his father bought a pub in Quilty.
