Outstanding Tipperary Talent at The Tavern, Ballinderry

The standard at heat 3 of the Tavern’s Got Talent (Ballinderry, Nenagh) rose to an even higher level, if that was possible, on Friday night last when a large audience was treated once again to an exceptional nights entertainment. 5 superb acts gave the judges major headaches, as only 3 could advance to the semi-finals. Luckily there will be a wild card night for the 2 runners up to have another go.

First on was Darragh McKenna, the new Lord Mayor of Borrisokane! Darragh performed “Love Me” and “The Dance”. The judges were impressed by Darragh’s presentation and the feeling and emotion he put into his songs. Next was Liz Mitchell from Roscrea. Liz gave an excellent performance of Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” and her “rock-chic” version of “Black Velvet”. Once again the judges praised her “excellent and tuneful” voice, and her confident and assured presentation.

Following that, all the way from Clonmel, we had Owen Barrett. Owen mesmerized the audience with a flawless rendition of a  Luke Kelly ballad, and his own original interpretation of Stand By Me. He also accompanied himself admirably on guitar. Judges were totally won over by the Luke Kelly ballad, describing it as “stunning” and “moving”.

Back to the ladies for act number four, with Linda Bryan from Littleton. Again a most original voice, which she used to great effect for her songs. Her version of Faith Hill’s “There You’ll Be” was truly beautiful, as was her second song, Sarah MacLauchlan’s “Arms Of An Angel”. She reached the high notes with “clarity and ease” according to one of the judges, Louise Heavin, who admitted that she herself was trying to reach the notes with her!

Final act of the night was local man Alan Dunne. The judges admitted they were truly “blown away” by Alan’s performance, which was full of originality, personality and showmanship. His stunning guitar playing complemented his excellent vocal in his first song, a rarely heard (at least in The Tavern!) number by The Weezers. Following that, Alan donned his tuxedo for a most entertaining and original interpretation of Cry Me A River, recently covered by Michael Buble. The judges likened this to a “theatrical performance” and praised the obvious work and thought that had gone into it. There was choreography, drama and even a few James Bond moves thrown in for good measure!

After the audience had a little time to breathe and the adjudicators had arrived at a result, we were entertained with an interval act by Zoe and Melissa from The Dance Factory in Mullingar, who happened to be attending the show. They gave us one of their own dances to a recent chart hit, and went down a treat!

Winner of the audience vote was Alan Dunne, and qualifying for the semi-finals with Alan were Owen Barrett and Linda Bryan. They join last weeks winners Acts Of Piracy (Nenagh(, Peter Walls, (Limerick), and Shane O’Dwyer (Ballinderry).

There are just 2 heats left; heat 4 this Friday the 26th March and an extra heat due to a high number of entries, on Thursday 1st April. If you want to take part you can still enter by calling 067-22195 or 086-2656257.