Dara O’Briain reflects on watching All-Ireland football final with TV stars

Comedian Patrick Kielty described the match as the ‘Irish Superbowl’.
Dara O’Briain joined other stars to watch the All-Ireland Gaelic football final (Ian West/PA)
PA Archive
Ellie Iorizzo31 July 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Dara O’Briain said he was “delighted” to be part of the first BBC national broadcast of an All-Ireland Gaelic football final alongside TV stars Paul Mescal, Adrian Dunbar and Patrick Kielty.

The Irish comedian, 51, shared a picture with Oscar-nominated actor Mescal, Line Of Duty’s Dunbar and RTE’s new Late Late Show presenter Kielty after the four watched from the stands as Dublin edged rivals Kerry to reclaim the title at Croke Park in Dublin.

On Twitter, O’Briain wrote: “Wonderful afternoon at the All-Ireland football final yesterday.

“Delighted to be part of the first BBC national broadcast of the final, and to be in such good company.”

He joked: “Obviously after the final we all parted company quietly to return to our homes and reflect; and I am not HANGIN’.”

It comes after the group were praised for their appearance during the BBC’s coverage ahead of the match.

Normal People star Mescal, who played Gaelic football at a “high level”, said he had lined up against some of the Dublin players “for my sins”.

He told the BBC: “For a lot of us, it was the defining factor of my childhood and teenage years. I’ve marked (players) Con O’Callaghan, (Ryan) Basquel and Cormac Costello.

“They are fantastic footballers, but they’re very difficult to mark.”

Mescal said it was “so hard to quantify” how much he missed playing the game, adding: “The world of acting and Gaelic football don’t seem to match up very well.

“I broke my jaw two days before starting my final year of drama school and that was the nail in the coffin.”

Meanwhile, Kielty described the final as a “bucket list event” for people in and outside of Ireland.

“This is the Irish Superbowl,” he told the BBC.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in