Daniel devotee sings star’s praises after surprise visit!

Mary-Ellen has a light-hearted tradition of revealing her Daniel O’Donnell calendar at the start of each month, with a short video posted on TikTok.

What started as a bit of craic quickly snowballed, and she now has 10,000 followers across the world.

The Daniel devotee’s monthly ritual caught the attention of the organisers of the upcoming OFX Irish Legends golf tournament, which the singer is taking part in.

So, they reached out to Mary-Ellen to gift her tickets to the event next month.

But, the Broad Oaks resident got more than she bargained for, when the Irish music icon arrived at her door last Tuesday to personally deliver the tickets!

reveal

Taking up the story, Mary-Ellen, a speech and language therapist, told the Chronicle: “A girl, Eimear McManus, who runs the tournament, asked if it was okay if she came up to watch me do the April calendar reveal.

“On the first of the month, when I change the calendar, people enjoy watching us react to the new outfit that Daniel is wearing. It's a bit mental!

“That's all I thought was happening - that these girls were coming up because they wanted to see the reveal.

“It didn't come into my head that Daniel would be walking into mummy’s kitchen!

“I’ve never met him before. I’ve never been to his concerts either, but mummy and I are going in May to the one in Armagh, so we’re looking forward to that.

“I’ve grown up with Daniel’s music. Mummy (Mary O’Hare) plays his music all the time and I think her love of Daniel came from my granny McCartan who was a massive fan of Daniel’s.

“The whole craic with the calendar started with me and my sisters. We’re all scattered over the place and every Christmas we would gift each other a Daniel O’Donnell calendar, so there’s one that flies out to Perth in Australia, one down to Kerry and one to Mayo.

“We all have the same calendar so it's always just been the craic of ‘I wonder what he’s wearing next month?’ sort of thing!

“I thought it was just funny and one month I happened to take a video and put it on TikTok, and people seemed to be enjoying it and it went viral, as they say.

“Then I just kept doing it. I've been posting it on TikTok from March or April last year and it’s really snowballed into a big thing, where I'm getting messages approaching the new month, saying ‘are you excited for the reveal?’

“There’s people in Canada messaging me and all over the world - they love it and it just shows the reach he has.”

While Daniel’s visit was “short and sweet”, it’s something that Mary-Ellen and her family won’t forget in a hurry.

“He stayed for a cup of tea and some of mummy’s soda bread, which she had made that morning - he chatted away.

“It was short and sweet but just enough time to have a wee conversation with us.

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“I would say he surpassed any expectations I ever had of him.

"He is the nicest, loveliest man and he had time for everybody.

“He really took an interest in everyone and is so genuine.

“I couldn’t believe it…I was taking photos, thinking to myself ‘Daniel’s over for tea!’

“Mummy sent him on his way with soda bread. There’s a wee video of him leaving and he’s waving the soda bread in the tin foil!”

The video of Daniel’s visit has been viewed an incredible 1.2 million times!

“I’ve even been on the radio, which is complete craziness in itself!” Mary-Ellen added.

“Mummy sent him on his way with soda bread.”