How I Met My Partner: Cork couple have been 'inseparable' since meeting at work in 2016

Seán Ronayne, an ornithologist and wildlife sound recordist, has just welcomed a daughter Laia with his partner Alba as he tells The Echo that he was too shy to talk to her when they first met.

Seán told The Echo: “We met in the Old Oak, we were both working there in 2016.

“I was there to pay for my masters in UCC and Alba was there to learn English, she’d moved from Barcelona.

“I was afraid to approach any woman, but a lovely lady in the bar called Alison knew I struggled socially so she was always trying to set me up with people and she told me one day she’d found me the perfect lady.

“Alba came down the stairs and I froze, she was going for a break so I poured her a green tea and I spilled half of it on the bar because my hands were shaking so much, I just couldn’t speak to her.”

Alba explained: “Alison just asked me one day if I had a boyfriend and I said no. She said she knew someone, and he was a lovely guy.

“The truth is, I had already noticed him walking around the bar, I thought he was charming and handsome.

“I wasn’t thinking about dating or anything like that but when she spoke to me I thought yeah, why not?

“I could see that he didn’t want to take the first step so I looked him up on Facebook and we started talking there, I would be going to bed at 4am after talking and flirting with him until then but it didn’t seem like he’d noticed.”

Seán explained: “I was convinced she was just being friendly!

“Then one day she snapped and said ‘can you not see I am flirting with you?’ and asked if I’d like to go on a date.

“One day, after I finished my shift, she grabbed me and kissed me — it totally took me by surprise but we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

They moved into a rented apartment together in Blarney Street soon after, and continued to work together in the Old Oak for a while before Alba begun working as a physiotherapist.

Seán explained: “I never wanted to be working indoors so I wasn’t happy there, plus the crowds and noise made me very stressed, but I was afraid to leave a stable job.

“Alba knew the outdoors was my calling, she convinced me to do it and that she’d have my back.

“A week after I left I got my first job as an ornithologist — if it wasn’t for Alba I could have been stuck in a rut for a long time.”

His career has taken off this past year, following an appearance on the Tommy Tiernan Show in January that he said “shot me into the public eye” and the release of his book in October. The recent birth of their daughter Laia ended up disturbing their press tour plans.

Seán recalled that they were in Dublin at the time: “I had a taxi booked for 6am to do Ireland AM, then Matt Cooper, Pat Kenny, book signings, but Alba woke me up at 5am and said she was in labour — she told me she’d had contractions for the last few hours but it wasn’t urgent so she hadn’t woken me up.

“I was calling my publisher to cancel everything, trying to find the nearest hospital, booking a taxi just in a sheer panic and Alba was just cruising around the place, she even went for a bath!”

Alba gave birth to Laia in the National Maternity Hospital, with Seán saying: “Sadly, she was born in the wrong capital.”

Despite this, the couple are enjoying parenthood, with Seán sleeping in a separate bedroom with Laia so that Alba can rest and sleep through the night to keep her energy up for breastfeeding, but she added that their daughter is a very good sleeper even at just seven weeks old.

“We are doing great at the moment, and I am really loving it,” she said.

Seán’s book, Nature Boy: A Journey Of Birdsong And Belonging, which won Irish Biography of the year 2024, is available now across Ireland.