A Co Armagh schoolboy has had his dreams come true after being invited on stage to sing alongside his musical hero.
Míceál Bennett ensured he was first in the queue to see his favourite singer Christy Moore on Thursday - little did he know, he would be leaving as one of the few people ever invited on stage by the Irish singer in the entirety of his career.
The 10-year-old's mother Dearbhla told Belfast Live about her son's love of the folk musician and how he became to be Christy's "number one fan".
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Dearbhla said: "Míceál has very simple loves in life - Armagh and Christy Moore. The end.
"Myself and my husband loved Christy before we even met and our wedding dance was to 'The Voyage' so it was no surprise after growing up listening to Christy Moore that he became obsessed.
"I have videos of him at three years of age at one of the Haven holidays in Dorset singing every word to 'Beeswing'. He has just loved everything to do with him."
After Santa gifted him an Amazon Alexa a number of years ago, Christy Moore's music can be heard non-stop from Míceál's bedroom, according to his proud mum.
During lockdown, Míceál decided to start writing letters to his hero to make good use of his time as the world was at a standstill.
"We couldn't really go anywhere so we walked to the postbox and had our lockdown walk to post it. Imagine our surprise a number of weeks letter when he wrote a letter back and drew a wee guitar on it.
"He has written that he had started playing guitar as well at eight and that a great song to learn is 'The Boys of Mullaghbawn' and Míceál was just beside himself - he couldn't believe it.
"He wrote to him again just before Christmas. Santa actually brought him tickets to see Christy play in Vicar Street and Míceál burst into tears here on Christmas day. My daughter Ciara got tickets to Dermot Kennedy and her reaction was nothing to Míceál's for Christy Moore," Dearbhla laughed.
After a Covid scare in the household left the schoolboy scared he wouldn't be able to use the tickets, he saw his hero sing live for the first time in January.
Watch Míceál performing with Christy below...
Dearbhla added: "We went to the gig on Vicar Street and he sang every single song so for his birthday in July, we got him these tickets for the Armagh Hotel. With his birthday money, he asked could be by tickets for the Carrickdale Hotel so he's going back."
Speaking about the gig that changed her son's life, she said: "Because we were in the front row and he was singing to every single song, Christy would normally close his eyes when he is singing but he opened them during a song and watched Míceál sing every word.
"He asked him to come up and Christy knelt down and asked him his name and Míceál told him and he said 'Fair play Míceál' and he handed him his plectrum. He told him that he had written him letters and Christy asked him if he was still singing and playing the guitar.
"He sat back down and started crying - he was just so overwhelmed. Later, it came to 'Nancy Spain' and you could see him leaning down a bit and he said 'Míceál, you're a star' and invited him up to sing it with him."
A number of videos of the 10-year-old have gone viral on social media since the concert, even getting a reshare from Christy himself who said tradition is "in safe hands" with Míceál.
"I can't convey the impact that has had on him - it is very very hard to put into words what that meant to him," Dearbhla explained. "I know it's gone a bit viral today but Míceál doesn't want to know about any of that - I wrote to Christy on the guestbook of his website today and he wrote back and that is all he wanted to see.
"He is an old soul in a young body. He loves Only Fools and Horses, Father Ted, mince and spuds and a slice of apple tart.
"Míceál is one of life's lovely children and I took him up to the local shop for his Friday treat and the owner handed him a tin of celebrations and his face dropped – he's so unassuming, I couldn't say enough about him."
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