A face to melt your heart away and to sell butter to families all across Ireland

THIS is the face of eight-year-old Cathal Joyce from Galway city – the schoolboy who will be fronting a series of TV ads for Connacht Gold’s low fat butter across a range of TV channels.

The son of James and Deirdre Joyce from Tirellan, Cathal was the ‘perfect face’ to front a major TV campaign that will see the ad featuring on RTE, TV3, the Sky Group and E4.

From this week, Cathal will be the ‘front man’ for a big Connacht Gold ‘push’ for their ‘real butter, half the fat’ advertising slogan. It’s all adding up to a busy few days for Cathal, who last weekend made his first Holy Communion.

Cathal is a grandson of well-known Corofin photographer and organiser for many years of the Galway Rose of Tralee contest, Patsy Conway.

“Cathal had auditioned for a film called ‘A Long Way Home’ that may be going ahead sometime into the future, depending on funding.

“The director Mick McGinley was so impressed with Cathal, that he recommended him for the Connacht Gold advertising campaign – that’s how it happened,” said Patsy Conway.

Cathal’s father, James, comes from solid farming stock in Gortaleam, Dunmore, and the pupil of Scoil Bhríde, Menlo, is well acquainted on all matters agrarian.

He is a regular visitor to his uncle Charlie’s farm in Dunmore while his babysitters in Menlo – Seán and Ann Connell – are also involved in farming.

“We’re all very proud of young Cathal – he’s a great little lad and he has a real interest in cows and farming. We’re all looking forward to seeing him on TV,” said Patsy Conway.

Filmed at a farm in the West of Ireland, the advertisement was shown for the first time on television last Monday night. It is designed to demonstrate the real butter quality of ‘low fat butter’, as distinct from substitutes on the market.

The investment by Connacht Gold will encompass a ten week campaign including 30 second and 10 second TV slots across RTE, TV3/3e, Sky group and E4, in addition to 30 second brand-led radio ads on national and regional stations