Wexford friends in seventh heaven at McGregor fight
SEVEN friends from Wexford had the time of their lives last week when they got to rub shoulders with Conor McGregor ahead of his much hyped fight against Floyd Mayweather.
Conor Byrne from Wexford town is in America on a J1 Visa with friends Ross Long, Ciaran Kirwan, also both from Wexford town, Kate Foley, Katie O’Sullivan, Siobhan Donohoe and Seanon Crean, all of whom are from the Clonroche and Enniscorthy area, Shane Cremin and Emer O’Connell from Cork and Kerry native Pat Spillane, the son of RTE pundit Pat Spillane.
Last Monday, August 21, the ten invaded Las Vegas after spending three months working in San Francisco on J1 work and travel visas.
The group of students attended the Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Las Vegas arrivals on Tuesday, where they were greeted by Conor McGregor himself.
McGregor approached his Irish fans with great enthusiasm and Wexford duo, Kate Foley, a student from St. Patrick’s Teaching college, and Ross Long, DIT, were especially thrilled when they got the opportunity to shake his hand and meet him up close and personal.
Kate said that she was never going to wash her hand ever again!
The paparazzi were everywhere in advance of the fight and the Irish students featured on nationwide and international TV and newspapers. They even went viral on social media.
Conor, a student at St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra and former CBS Wexford student, said that they were receiving massive amounts of messages from friends of family all week regarding their appearance in the media.
The Irish contingent also attended the weigh-in on Friday where they said the atmosphere was sensational.
They said colours of green, white and orange dominated the crowd and chants of ‘you’ll never beat the Irish’ echoed around the T Mobile Arena.
They found it especially fascinating that most of the American boxing/UFC fans supported McGregor over Mayweather saying he is well liked over in America and the support he received was unbelievable.
Surprised at the result of Saturday’s fight, the students celebrated as if Conor was bringing the title home.
Seanon Crean and Kate Foley even made it into the McGregor VIP after party where they met Conor again. Alongside meeting McGregor, the Wexford fans had the pleasure of meeting many other famous stars including Bruce Willis, 50 Cent, Ice Cube and Ireland’s own Paddy Barnes.
A number of the gang have already returned to Ireland but Conor, the son of Therese and Paul Byrne, won’t arrive home until September 6 and will take in San Diego and New York before his return.