How I Met My Partner: Cork councillor and wife's love story began in Burgerland
Damian Boylan with his wife Brenda. The pair have been together for 33 years and feature in this week's How I Met My Partner
FAST food joint Burgerland may not have been considered the most romantic location to stoke the fires of passion in early 90s Cork.
Nonetheless, this didn’t stop a 21-year-old Damian Boylan from finding the woman of his dreams there. Some 33 years later and the Cork North West Fine Gael councillor still embraces his humble beginnings.
He acknowledged how far he and wife Brenda have come since meeting at the iconic eatery. The local politician downplayed Brenda’s initial attraction, saying the odds were very much in his favour.
“At that time the percentage was about 80% women and 20% men working there, which made it a lot easier for me”, he joked. “I can remember finding Brenda incredibly beautiful. She was also tough as nails so I think we were all a bit afraid of her”.
The former deputy Lord Mayor described that period as the best time of their lives.
“We had a great social life because everybody was so young. We were all off at the same time which made it easier to all get together. Jackie Solan was a great employer. We were paid well and it was a great place to work. Places like Burgerland were high-pressured environments. If you didn’t have a sense of humour it would have got very tiresome. Everyone got on with everybody else. Those who didn’t usually didn't last in the job”.
Damian said that dealing with customers in Burgerland helped him develop his passion for working with the public.
“Thousands of people passed through Burgerland including some very well known faces. People like Roy Keane and Christy Dignam all went there to eat”.
Brenda’s colleagues had already been encouraging her to pursue Damian when he decided to make his feelings known.
“Our employer Jackie put us all on a bus and brought us for a barbecue on the beach in Garretstown which was where Damian made his first move”, Brenda recalled.
Word of their love affair travelled fast.
“There were no secrets in Burgerland because it had such a family atmosphere", Damian explained. "If anything newsworthy happened everyone would know about it 30 seconds later so you can be sure they knew all about what had gone on in Garretstown”.
Brenda was almost 18 when she had her first date with then College of Commerce marketing student.
“We went to Beechers - where Opera Lane now is - for a drink", Brenda said. "There was always slagging and banter between us so being together came very naturally to us. I suppose it helped that I grew up in a house with five brothers so boys were never a mystery to me”.
Brenda kept her feet firmly on the ground during that period.
“I was very young so I wasn’t expecting it to go anywhere. He asked me out again two weeks later. We went to Jurys and then I got to join him for a friend’s parents wedding anniversary".
The couple had been together for nine years when they married at St Joseph’s Church in Mayfield.
"We had a big circle of customers who soon became friends", Damian laughed.
150 people turned out for the wedding in total including friends from the rallying scene they frequented and family members.
“It was a great day”, Damian recalled.
Mr Boylan said that he and his wife are not the only married couple to have met in Burgerland.
"Some people got together while working in Burgerland. Others reconnected years later and began a relationship then. There were so many people working there at the time that this was bound to happen".
Many still know the councillor as "the boy who worked in Burgerland".
"A lot of people knew me from going to Burgerland. Some people assumed I went from working in Burgerland to being a councillor overnight because they hadn’t seen me all the years in between. When I die the words “he worked in Burgerland” will likely be etched across my headstone. It was the best time of our lives and we would give anything to go back”.
Fast forward more than three decades and the couple are still as happy as ever.
“Damian was, and still is, very good looking”, Brenda said of the day they met. “It was also great to have somebody who doesn’t mind having the mick taken out of them. He gives as good as he gets and that was something else that I really liked about him”.
Damian and Brenda eventually welcomed two children into the world Kate (now 18) and Simon (15).
“It was tough and not all rosy in the garden at first", Brenda said. "There were sleepless nights. Years on we have almost forgotten about the reflux and the time we took Kate to A&E twice in one week after she stuffed beads up her nose”.
The couple’s children share their infectious sense of humour.
“There is always laughing in our house”, Damian said.
Brenda described how they spend their downtime.
“Every week we all get together and make pizza. We couldn’t exactly call it a date night as the kids are there too but it’s something we love doing together. We’ll be 25 years married next year and I’ll probably end up spend the day canvassing like I did on our 20th wedding anniversary”, she laughed.
Damian was elected a councillor in May 2019.
He is a founding member of Blarney and District Chamber of Commerce, the Blarney People of the Year Awards and has been actively involved in his community for the past 15 years.
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