Trad legends play concert for Heritage Week in Tyrrellspass

Shane King

Two legends of traditional Irish music played a concert in Tyrrellspass last weekend at a Heritage Week event. Eileen O’Brien hailing from Tipperary and Jackie Daly from Cork are renowned musicians for their masterful work. They performed an intimate recital at the village Barn in front of a large crowd.

Eileen is the daughter of well-known accordion player and composer Paddy O’Brien from Nenagh, who composed many of the best tunes played today. Jackie comes from a background steeped in the Sliabh Luachra style of music known for its lively slides and polkas.

Together they performed a spellbinding array of music which included many compositions by Jackie and by Eileen’s father.

Mullingar musician Noel Battle joined the pair on stage for a few tunes on the mouth organ in the latter part of the show.

ETHOS (Everything Tyrrellspass Has On Show) work to promote the vibrant village and it attractions; the group were the organisers of the various events to promote heritage in their community at the weekend.

Along with the concert, the group launched the Tyrrellspass heritage trail and arranged a nature walk on Cloncrow bog. Eugene Dunbar, secretary on the ETHOS committee, said he was "delighted" with the response to this year’s events for Heritage Week. "We launched the boardwalk around Cloncrow bog last year and have since developed a village trail, which is a series of QR codes at interesting points around the village. We launched the trail to coincide with Heritage Week and it attracted a big crowd.

"The concert features the fantastic musicians Jackie Daly and Eileen O’Brien. I have always had an interest in traditional Irish music and there is a great heritage of music in the village as well so it was an ideal event to celebrate the week," he said.