Cork's Effie Neill aiming to be this year's Glór Tíre champion 

WEST Cork singer Effie Neill is to appear on the first episode of the new season of TG4’s hit country music series Glór Tíre.

The 21-year-old, from Ardgroom, in Beara, has a decade of experience in live performance.

Ms Neill will be one of eight contestants battling it out for the title of Ireland’s Glór Tíre Country Music Champion 2024.

The show, now in its 20th season, returns to TG4 on Tuesday, March 12, and will see Ms Neill perform her hit single, ‘Country Is The Best’, as well as a duet of ‘I Heard The Bluebird Sing’ with Michael English.

Proud

“I’ll be proud to represent Munster,” Ms Neill said. “And it means a lot, as I’ve been watching the programme since I was knee-high. For my family, every Tuesday and Wednesday night was Glór Tíre.”

Ms Neill works as a receptionist at Kenmare Mart and as an OTC assistant at Berehaven Pharmacy and has been playing gigs since she was 14.

She won an award at the 2023 Cowboys and Heroes festival and impressed Irish country singer Michael English.

“I first heard Effie in Wexford,” Mr English said. “She sang ‘The Way Old Friends Do’, a song by ABBA and a hit for Philomena Begley, and the way she sang it, I thought she had a great voice and a great stage presence, at only 21 years of age.”

Mr English will be Ms Neill’s mentor on the show, which she said is “a dream come true”.

“It’s unbelievable. I never thought I’d be on Glór Tíre with Michael English. I love his music, always did. To hear what Michael has to say, and how he will mentor me, I’m really looking forward to it,” she said.

Ms Neill will perform on Glór Tíre on TG4 on Tuesday, March 12 at 9.30pm.