Ballincollig singer thrilled to share stage with Christy Moore

When 23-year-old Ballincollig native Colm O’Brien took to the Cork Opera House stage two weekends ago, beside Christy Moore, the only word he could think of was “surreal”.

In front of a packed, sold-out house, with more than a few friends in the audience, the former Cork Life Centre student delivered an assured performance of his own song, Summer Ballad.

“I was worried I’d get overwhelmed by the crowd, but once I got out there, it was very enjoyable,” he told The Echo. “I was chatting to Christy beforehand, he was really nice, very down to Earth and easy to talk to.” 

He had written Summer Ballad when he was 18, and he said it was very emotional to revisit a song from an album that Cork Life Centre director Don O’Leary had helped him put together and had funded. The gig in the Opera House was a fundraiser for the Life Centre, raising €23,000, and also a tribute to Don from Christy Moore, who had first met him in Portlaoise Prison in the late 1980s when the Corkman asked Christy to play for Don’s fellow Republican prisoners.

Colm had left secondary school at 14, feeling unable to fit in, and he says going to the Life Centre was the making of him. The northside centre every year gives one-to-one tutoring to 55 students who have not thrived in mainstream education.

“The Life Centre put me on the path toward becoming a professional musician, and also it also put me on the path of becoming aware of looking after my mental health,” Colm said. 

“If I hadn’t gone to the Life Centre, I wonder would I have ended up being less true to myself and less able to express myself through music.” 

The road to a professional career in music seems clear ahead for Colm, thanks to the Life Centre, but thanks also to his own talent and hard work. And sharing a stage with Christy Moore.