Galway singer in the spotlight before Aussie rugby test

Galway City native Ciaran Boyle, who left home for Australia to pursue a career in music, admits singing Ireland’s Call in front of a stadium capacity of almost 30,000 ahead of Ireland’s second rugby test against the Wallabies last Saturday “is a nice feather in the cap”.

Ciaran, who hails from Beechwood Park, Ballybane, sang the rugby anthem, penned by Phil Coulter, at a packed out AAMI Park, Melbourne while the event itself was also broadcast live to millions around the world by Sky Sports.

Indeed, members of Ciaran’s family – father Joe, mum Monica and brother Sean – along with neighbours and friends gathered in the Huntsman last Saturday to watch the performance, with a great cheer going up when the 35-year-old took the microphone in hand to lead the Irish team and supporters in song.

Speaking from Melbourne this week, Ciaran tells the Tribune he really enjoyed the whole experience although he concedes he was a bit nervous. “I think anybody who was with me though was more nervous than I was at the time,” he laughs.

“At least I knew what I was doing. For me, it was a bit more mechanical in the sense I knew I had a job to do and I had to make sure I did it. So, it was don’t try to enjoy it. Just do it properly and then enjoy it after.”

And his mobile phone has been hopping ever since. “Obviously, there was a lot of family who knew about it and then there was those people who might have heard me say it but didn’t know if it really was going to happen,” he chuckles.

“There were also people who know that I do music but there were people who completely didn’t know anything about my music (career) until they saw the picture of me on the TV with the Ireland team in the background. That was a great shot. I was dressed fairly well and I don’t think people actually knew that I could dress up,” he laughs.

To use his own words, it was “a nice feather in the cap”, further vindicating his decision six years ago to leave his nine-to-five job in IT to pursue his passion in Australia.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.