ENNIS’ Susan O’Neill was among the big winners at the recent RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards.

For the second year in a row, SON alongside Mick Flannery won the Best Original Folk Track prize for their song ‘Chain Reaction’. Her song ‘Almost’ was also nominated in the same category.

SON was among the performers in front of a live audience which included President Michael D. Higgins. The awards were presented by Feakle based Ruth Smith and Cork native John Creedon.

Susan was also shortlisted for ‘Best Folk Singer’, the award which was secured by Dublin’s John Francis Flynn. Her album with Mick Flannery titled ‘In the Game’ was one of five albums in the running for Best Folk Album with ‘Solas an Lae’ by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin and Ultan O’Brien taking the spoils.

Maghera native, Martin Hayes was nominated in the Best Folk Instrumentalist. Christy Moore was honoured with the lifetime achievement award while Sarah Makem was entered into the hall of fame.

At the age of sixteen, Susan appeared on RTÉ talent show ‘You’re A Star’ which was formerly used to select Ireland’s Eurovision entries. When the pandemic struck last year, she was in the first two weeks of a two month tour in Australia and ended up getting an emergency flight home.

In the months that followed, she began working on ‘In the Game’ with Flannery. “That was definitely a product of everything being closed and the gigs shutting down,” she recalled. “I had previously done support to Mick and would join him on stage for a song or two at the end, and it was our mutual manager, Sheena Keane, who suggested that we should work on a tune or two after hearing our voices together. Mick is very good at all the aspects of songwriting, but in my mind he’s particularly amazing with lyrics. He can say something in the most perfect way that encapsulates it all and evokes emotion every time.

“I’ve always been drawn to melody, it has been my strongest part, so to work with somebody whose lyrics are this effortlessly brilliant has been a really beautiful kind of journey for me,” Susan added.

Related News

electoral chair debate 21-11-24 violet-anne wynne 4
Ex TD Wynne says she cannot pay this week's rent of €300 & 'is going to people who lend money & add interest'
play in pink kilrush 1
Kilrush golfers swing behind Play in Pink for cancer research
Snn Ryanair 1_cropped
Ryanair recruiting for 35 cabin crew roles in Shannon
weather warning
High temperatures reaching 30°c this weekend

Advertisement

Latest News
Snn Ryanair 1_cropped
Ryanair recruiting for 35 cabin crew roles in Shannon
weather warning
High temperatures reaching 30°c this weekend
clare rd cycle scheme 1
'Ennis is choked with cars' - Clare Greens hail transport plan as 'visionary'
joe cooney jerry buttimer orlaigh thompson 1
Irish Seed Savers contributed €115k to local economy in 2024
mill rd traffic lights 1
'Staying stuck in traffic means staying stuck in the past' warn Better Ennis
Premium
liam o'connor 1
Kilmaley's Liam left for Australia in 2012 and now runs successful Perth-based machinery & contracting business
Please Credit Photograph by Eamon Ward
'The Council want to rip up roads' - Flynn says Ennis transport plan is anti-car
mary howard mayor
Councillors stopped from having vote on Ennis transport plan with Mayor Howard coming under fire in first meeting
kerry v clare 04-05-25 manus doherty 1
Clare GAA make extra profit with sale of Roslevan house & officers commit to fight 'tooth & nail' against changes to Munster SFC
harvey's quay parnell street car park taxi rank 1
Reference to paused Ennis 2040 projects to be removed from transport plan

Subscribe for just €3 per month

If you’re here, you care about County Clare. So do we. Did you rely on us for Covid-19 updates, follow our election coverage, or visit The Clare Echo every week for breaking news and sport? The Clare Echo invests in local journalism and we want to safeguard its future in our county. By becoming a subscriber you are supporting what we do, will receive access to all our premium articles and a better experience, while helping us improve our offering to you. Subscribe to clareecho.ie and get the first six months for just €3 a month (less than 75c per week), and thereafter €8 per month. Cancel anytime, limited time offer. T&Cs Apply. www.clareecho.ie.

Subscribe for just €3 per month

If you’re here, you care about County Clare. So do we. Did you rely on us for Covid-19 updates, follow our election coverage, or visit The Clare Echo every week for breaking news and sport? The Clare Echo invests in local journalism and we want to safeguard its future in our county. By becoming a subscriber you are supporting what we do, will receive access to all our premium articles and a better experience, while helping us improve our offering to you. Subscribe to clareecho.ie and get the first six months for just €3 a month (less than 75c per week), and thereafter €8 per month. Cancel anytime, limited time offer. T&Cs Apply. www.clareecho.ie.

Advertisement