Reels strutted with eager abandon

BALLAGHADERREEN:AH, YES. "You would stand in the snow just to watch that young lad," said Sinead Devine in the Douglas Hyde centre at Portahard, near Frenchpark, in Co Roscommon.

And surely you would. Ronan Kelly is only eight but he is already a world champion Irish dancer. “All nine judges gave him 100 per cent in Nashville,” explained his father John, referring to the championships held in the US during the summer. He was not the only star there last night performing under the benign gaze of Ireland’s first president, whose remains were enjoying their 60th year of rest in the country churchyard outside.

Seán Beirne (14) sang Michael Bublé  with the sauve ease of the original, while Zoe Carney played the accordion and Louise Dwyer the concert flute.

Then there were Teresa and Jane and Róisin and Emma and another Louise, who strutted their best reels with eager abandon. At Devine-O’Callaghan’s in Ballaghaderreen, hosts Declan and Mary watered all guests, as what promised to be the céilí to end all céilithe, gathered momentum. But in traditional style it was not expected to get off the ground until early morning.

John Hanley and his two sons, Seán and Padraig, launched into a few dance tunes as the revellers got into liquid form, prompting Miriam McGovern and Mary Murray to perform “Shoe the Donkey’’.

Now all that was needed was Claire McBrien and Mary Sheridan, if they could get them out of the pub . . .