Labour of love
Multi-tasking dad is best man for his brother, then attends his own child’s birth
FRAYED nerves are nothing new on a wedding day – but they are normally the preserve of the bride and groom. But when Billy Moore and Triona Raymond got married in Killarney, Co Kerry, on New Year’s Eve, Billy’s best man, his brother Declan was doing all the worrying. And not because he was concerned he might lose the rings.
Declan had the most frantic day of his life after his wife Joanie went into labour with their third child at 3am on the morning of the ceremony.
After a quick call to alert Billy to the possibility that he may need to spring one of the groomsmen from the substitutes’ bench, Declan undertook the first of what ended up being a series of daring dashes from Killarney to the University Hospital in Tralee, a 50-mile round trip.
And if events were not complicated enough, it then emerged that the partner of groomsman Wayne Smith, Siobhán Kiely, was nearly due to deliver a baby as well.
However, a determined Declan was adamant that he wouldn’t let his brother down on his big day – and so began an experience he will never forget, which eventually ended when new arrival Hannah became the first child born in the Kingdom in 2018.
‘It was kind of a motorised version of Forrest Gump, not “Run, Forrest, run,” more “Drive, Declan, drive,”’ laughed Declan.
‘But sure look, my son Logan and his sister Shannon are delighted with the new baby, and now that I am recovered I am just thankful everything went well.
‘The staff at the hospital were brilliant, they kept me updated all along, and Joanie was probably the calmest of the lot of us. She just wanted to ensure that Billy’s wedding went as planned. It was 24 hours-plus of mayhem, but the result at the end of it made it all worthwhile.’
In all, Declan travelled 207 miles over nine trips between the wedding and the hospital.
Billy said he was just amazed at how his brother coped with all the mayhem. ‘He had to kind of make it up as he went along, but he did it brilliantly,’ he said. ‘His speech had the audience in stitches and even though Wayne would have filled in, it sounded much better coming from Declan,’ said Billy.
‘There were times we didn’t know where he was but then suddenly he’d pop up again, and sure isn’t it great for me to become both a husband and an uncle within a few hours?’
Baby Hannah arrived into the world at 8.20am on New Year’s Day – the first baby born in Kerry in 2018 – tipping the scales at 5.14 pounds.
‘It was 24 hours-plus of mayhem – but worth it’