First Dates Ireland recap: Tipperary county medallist makes big impression on popular show

Vlad Bodrov from Tipperary ticked all the right boxes with his Dublin date in the latest episode of RTÉ's First Dates Ireland which aired tonight (Thursday).

The 22-year-old social worker from Roscrea said he was sick of the same "one-night stand" and was on the show looking to find a girl to settle down with and hit it off with 21-year-old Dubliner Alannah with their passion for sport a big topic of conversation between the pair.

Before meeting the football-mad primary school teacher, Vlad admitted that he had learned what love is from films, or more specifically from the film '50 Shades of Grey'!

He also spoke about how people always tell him that he can "make people smile by just being there," and that moving from Latvia to Roscrea at the tender age of 4 was a culture shock.

In terms of his love life, he admitted that he has no problem getting a girl, but despite still being a young man, he's looking to settle down with the right girl.

Alannah on the other hand has had no luck in her love life and admitted that she was struggling to find someone for a relationship, but despite that, she loves going on dates. 

She said she is very picky and likes tall men and went as far as to say that smaller men make her feel "icky"!

Before meeting the Roscrea man, she highlighted that football, family, and friends are her big priorities in life and that was a good thing considering who she was to meet!

After being introduced to Alannah, Vlad was in awe of his date and even went as far as to say "how could a girl be this beautiful," off camera.

Talk soon went toward sport and she told Vlad of her love for football and he told her he played himself, but because he was from Tipperary, it was more hurling that he grew up playing. 

He said he'd be good at hurling and football when she asked. "But not county standard!" he admitted.

Eventually, Vlad revealed that he won a county final with Roscrea back in 2017 and he said "it was a big achievement" to be the first Latvian to win a county title in Tipperary.

The conversation went a bit deeper after that and Vlad spoke about being a foreign boy coming to school in Roscrea he said not a lot of kids would come over to him because he had no English.

Professionally, Vlad works with autistic kids in his job as a social worker, and when Alannah asked him why he got into that line of work, he said his friend's younger brother had autism and that was why he got into it.

The date looked to be going very well at this point and he decided to order a few Pornstar Martinis he wanted to show her that he was a real "gentleman" and then admitted that he was a bit of a mammy's boy.

With things going well now, the moment of truth was just about to come and he even told her that " this is the best date I've ever been on," and he insisted on sorting the bill because he said he had the "best time ever."

And when the big question came, Vlad didn't beat around the bush and answered straight away. "I would love to see Alannah again, 100 percent. The conversation just flowed and we have so much in common."

It was a match with Alannah very keen to see the Roscrea man again and spoke about how him being "family-oriented" was a big factor for her and they even decided there and then that they'd get a drink on Camden Street shortly.

In the closing credits of the episode it wasn't the news that the audience would have expected as the pair decided to just be friends because it's "a long way to Tipperary," and Vlad can still be happy with how he came across on the popular prime time show.