The huge crowd that turned up to Strictly Come Dancing with St. Eunan’s GAA
Club were treated to a spectacular night’s entertainment in Letterkenny’s Mt. Errigal
Hotel on Friday night.
First to take to the floor were Niamh Slowey & Cormac Goulding in the Cha Cha round. A nerve wracking task to be first up but they handled it with aplomb.
Next up were Connie McGranaghan & Sean Grant – Connie never stopped smiling all night.
Judge Chris Duddy remarked her presence would soon see her join her brother Andy and sister on stage in An Grianan Theatre!
The first round continued as Noel “Happy Feet” Keaveny & Ursula Mulgrew tripped the light fantastic followed by Natalie McGranaghan & Anthony Gallagher and then Husband and wife team, Ciara McVeigh Lunn & Timmy Lunn and they set the early benchmark on the judges scoring.
Next up were Helena Kenny & Austin Marron, Austin complete with the largest wig we’ve
ever seen!
They were followed by the youngest couple, Caoimhe Lagan & Marcus Harley who were coolness personified – belying their tender years.
Next up we had Bookies favourites Louise McKeague & Ollie Harvey. Louise is employed
by Paddy Power, whilst Ollie assured us his life savings were going on the
votes!
Ladies player, Michaela Muldowney was next to the floor with her partner Jason Boyle who it was revealed once took part in a Country & Western video!
Last but certainly not least, Teacher Orla Sullivan and her partner AIB Bank Official Enda Kelly whipped the crowd into a frenzy with an energetic performance to see them challenging at the top of the Leader board at the end of Round 1.
During the half-time interval presentations were made to the members of the
Lory Meagher Cup winning team members form the club: Sean McVeigh, Cormac
Goulding, Shane O’Connor, Eugene Organ and team captain and Lory Meagher
All-Star, Colm Breathnach.
The second round was the Jive and the shackles were off, Helena & Austin
were first up this time and got this round off to a great start.
The scores were getting higher and higher as the Dancers became more comfortable with
their surroundings and Orla & Enda set the benchmark in the second round
with another stunning performance.
Early leaders Ciara & Timmy were last up and knew they needed a nearly perfect score to take the Judge’s Prize or Timmy would be banished to the spare room! They did not disappoint with their timing and energy right on the money to get them the only perfect
score of the night a magnificent 40 out of a possible 40 with all four
judges (Chris Duddy, Phil Dalton, Tina Higgins and Brain Kelly) scoring them
am perfect 10.
The only remaining question was had Ice Cream salesman Ollie’s half-time lead in the public vote evaporated in the heat of the battle with his dodgy ankle that required 3 injections for him to take part or was Louise right to have Paddy Power have them at even money to take the public vote and Strictly crown that was won last year by Danielle McDaid Fay & Eddie Blake.
Charlie Collins did a superb job as host on the night, keeping the flow of
the evening perfectly and interacting with the Dancers, audience and judges
with an easy grace. AVC handled the audio Visual with great
professionalism.
Club PRO Paul McGovern commented, “It was another fantastic success for the
club. The atmosphere in the room was electric tonight. It is a great credit
particularly to the Dancers who gave up so much of their spare time to put
on such a wonderful show for the punters.
“We had Sheila McMacken, Oliver Wilson and Maria (Sheila’s daughter) as dance instructors again this year and they had the dancers in peak form for tonight. Charlie Collins, the Judges, the audience and AVC all added their own unique touch to the night
to make it a great success.
“We had a good committee from the outset with Anne Forde, Andy McGlynn, Celine McMenamin, Dermot Higgins, Elaina Gallagher, Nichola Haran, Tracey McVeigh and myself all meeting at least once a week to make sure we weren’t overlooking anything and it all came together perfectly on the night.”
