De La Salle Irish group take top award
AOI Gheasa, a traditional Irish group from De La Salle College were crowned winners of the AIB School Stars 2018 in The TLT in Drogheda last week.
Amongst the four judges on the night was The X-Factor and Ireland’s Got talent judge Louis Walsh.
The show was opened by De La Salle’s ‘Neil Murray and Band’ comprised of Samuel Ogobamidele on drums, Saoirse Murray on Bass Guitar, Mark Kingham on lead guitar and vocalist Neil Murray who performed a hip version of Johnny Cashes ‘ Folsom Prison Blues.’
However, it was Faoi Gheasa preforming Eithne Ní Uallacháin’s version of ‘ Táim cortha ó bheith im’ aonar im luí’ followed by an exhilarating afro-celt version of Drowsy Maggie that grabbed the attention of Louis Walsh and the entire TLT audience.
The group consisted of Donncadh Hughes on Flute and Whistle and Keyboard, Conor Conway on Whistle and Uilleann pipes, Samuel Ogobamidele on Keyboard and Drums, Colm Bellew on Guitar , Enoch Elewa on Conga drums, Oisin Dixon on Banjo and mandolin, Ronan Byrne on Concertina and Iarlaith Carroll as lead vocalist.
X Factor supremo Louis Walsh paid tribute to the group, and even described them as the ‘new Chieftans’, saying that he looked forward to hearing more from them in the future!