Irish viewers react to 'delicious' Late Late Show Country Special

There was many a special moment on RTÉ's annual hoedown, as the country all stars of Ireland assembled for the Late Late Show Country Special on Friday night.

Daniel O’Donnell started us off leading some of the biggest and brightest stars on the Irish country music scene in Elvis Presley's hit Burning Love.

"We’re celebrating the 33rd county in Ireland," Patrick Kielty announced "Nashville, Tennessee."

only reason this queen is watching the late late country show ooohhh and garron noone #latelate pic.twitter.com/0ojVK7GnDN

— Sophie (@Sophie98055743) October 4, 2024

There was an Elvis theme to the night as TikTok sensation Garron Noone, on his first ever Late Late appearance, revealed that his Elvis-mad father initially wanted to name him for The King.

"Actually, Elvis had a twin brother who sadly passed away at birth, but his name was Jesse Garon. My dad wanted to call me Elvis. My mother wasn't having it, so here I am."

Find someone who looks at you the way Garron looks at Margo #latelate #latelateshow pic.twitter.com/faLzFs2lmz

— Alan Clarke (@AlanClarkeTweet) October 4, 2024

Queens of Irish country Philomena Begley, Susan McCann and Margo sat down for a chat with Patrick, with Susan McGann also being inducted into The Late Late Show Country Music Hall of Fame.

The golden girls of Irish country music #LateLate #LateLateShow pic.twitter.com/2oVC6a99hQ

— Aoife Bourke (@Abourke3Aoife) October 4, 2024

The night also included a heartfelt tribute for the legendary and late country singer and songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who passed away earlier this week, from Daniel O’Donnell and Eastenders star turned country singer Shona McGarty.

The pair sang 'Me and Bobby McGee' which Daniel said they had actually chosen to sing on the show two months ago.

“It’s a sad loss to music, but the legacy that he left behind is incredible,” said Daniel.

“We picked the song to sing two months ago, it’s ironic that it should be a Kris Kristofferson song. It’s a nice way to pay tribute to him.”

It's easy, when you had a suburban Dublin childhood, to be dismissive of country music, but it was, and is, part of the wonderful tapestry of Irish life. #LateLate #LateLateCountrySpecial

— Philip Nolan (@philipnolan1) October 4, 2024

Daniel also revealed that he and his wife Majella's son Michael, married his partner Sarah in July, are now expecting a baby in April 2025, exactly nine months after their wedding day.

“They used to say that's the wedding night baby, it’s nine months from the very day. I’ll tell you something, if it was any different, the Sacred Heart would have fallen off the wall,” O’Donnell joked, harking back to a joke from Shona that she had a photo of Daniel in her childhood home like "the sacred heart"