Meet Onóir: Donegal quartet's first shows on stage sell out

A group of four south Donegal musicians who have recently joined forces sold out three shows this week in double quick time.

Onóir announced a gig for the Balor Theatre and the full house signs were posted after only four hours.

A second date was added and the box office was out of stubs after 34 minutes.

When a third show was arranged at the weekend, it was said that hundreds were left disappointed when the tickets were snapped up in just four hours.

Tom McHugh from Inver, Frosses native Declan Gaughan, Mountcharles’ Dean James and Diarmaid McGee from Ballintra form a quartet that has tongues wagging.

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“We never expected this at all,” Tom tells Donegal Live.

“We really just said that we would put on a show and try to push it - we didn’t actually have to push it in the end up. We couldn’t believe it.”

During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, the four men joined together and made a video at Murvagh beach, recording a version of The Auld Triangle. The video went viral and has 1.6 million views.

“That video went viral so we decided to do another one,” Tom says.

“Its just mad,” Declan says. “This will be totally different to what we are used to. People are paying to see us now so we want to put on a show.”

Another date at the end of May has been confirmed for An Grianan Theatre in Letterkenny.

They’ve never known momentum like it.

Tom was just 13 when he played his first gig in the Lazy Bush bar in Mountcharles. “I was in a rock band at the time - and it was more noise than music,” he says.

Onóir, a Gaelic name meaning honour, was chosen carefully by the group.

“We wanted a solid name with a Celtic theme,” Tom explains.

Fans can expect a good mix of bluegrass and folk while the group are also fond of the Americana genre.

“We also try to write our own stuff and will release that,” Tom, who plays now six nights a week, says.

“This week doesn’t seem real at all, selling out shows like this.

“Generally, we just do weddings and play in pubs. This has been such a shock. It is a huge thing for us.”

Declan remembers the day he first took to the stage when he was in fifth class at national school in Mountcharles.

Declan, James Kelly and Barry Meehan performed a version of Sweet Child of Mine. Guns N’ Roses, they weren’t.

“It was an instrumental version as none of us wanted to sing,” Declan says, recalling the days when he’d lift his brother’s guitar and strum in the house.

The Balor has rarely seen a clamour like it. Onóir have never appeared together in public, but they’ll play before a packed audience on April 16, 22 and 23.

The world now is their oyster and enquiries have been flooding in over the last week.

“We are in shock that so many people like us,” Declan laughs. “We thought that, maybe, we could sell out one of the shows.”

With their videos online proving such a hit, the reaction perhaps shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“We have to stay on the ball now,” Tom says.

“We want to make the shows to be enjoyable for everyone. We can’t wait. We all remember working in shitty jobs, so it would be brilliant if we can make this work.”