How I met my partner: Cork couple goes from 'suggested friends' on Facebook to six year relationship

Recruitment consultant Rachel Kiely and escalation engineer Ryan O’Riordan would not have their six-year-strong relationship if it weren’t for the wonders of digital algorithms.

Rachel, aged 28, who hails from Ballincollig, told The Echo that she first came across 27-year-old Ryan, from Kinsale, in 2019, in what was a chance encounter through the suggested friends tab on Facebook.

“How we met was he came up on my suggested friends one day on Facebook, I saw his picture and I went on to his profile,” said Rachel.

“I saw that he was tall, he had dark hair, had tattoos and piercings, and he had an alternative style — which would have been something I always looked for — so when I saw he was in Cork, I was like ‘how don’t I know this guy?’”

“I saw that he worked in Arthur Mayne’s at the time and my friend Evelyn actually worked there as well, so I texted her to get the suss of him.

“We met then on Tinder properly — I was religiously swiping through trying to find him and when I finally did come across his profile, we matched straight away.

“We were talking on Tinder for about a month before we got to meet up — we would have met up sooner but I remember I was going away on holidays with the girls, so we didn’t have the time.

“We moved away from Tinder and started texting on Instagram for, like, two weeks, and then we met up when we were back at home.”

Detailing their first in-person encounter, Rachel said that even six years later, she and Ryan still have differing recollections of this time at the beginning of their relationship.

“It’s funny, our stories of remembering meeting each other for the first time are very different,” said Rachel.

“The way that I remember it is that I got on to him and said I was going to be in Crane [Lane] on such a night with the girls, and that I would come up and say hi while he was working behind the bar, and that’s how we made contact.

“But he remembers that, on another night, I was in Crane [Lane] again, drinking wine and having a cheese board with the girls, and he dropped our food to the table.

“He says that I didn’t know it was him, and apparently I kept brushing him off.

“He says he was like ‘What the hell Rachel, it’s Ryan, we’ve been talking’ and I didn’t even acknowledge him — I don’t remember that, so whether or not that happened, I can’t say!

“We went on a first date then whenever he had time off next, we literally just hung out at his house, we watched movies and stuff, and my friend who worked with him called over as well, so the three of us hung out.

“For our first proper date, we went to Fota — we took the train down and we had a really nice day walking around — that was it then from there really.

“We were dating for about two months then before he asked me out. After that, I brought him to a festival in Berlin with my friends, which was a big test at the start of our relationship, just to see how we’d get on — but obviously it went really well.”

Since 2019, Rachel and Ryan, who could be described as kindred spirits, have moved in together, taken on the responsibility of co-parenting a pet, and spend their days doing what they love most together; going out for dinner and drinks, attending gigs and concerts, and going on as many holidays as they can.

“We’ve been living together now for at least three years. My roommate was moving out at the time, so Ryan took his place, and since then we’ve gotten a cat together — her name is Luna — and it’s just the three of us,” said Rachel.

“Ryan is so funny — he’s so beyond caring and just really compassionate and empathetic towards me.

“He always has me in his thoughts, and thankfully, he’s a really good cook too — I’m really bad, so he definitely helps me out a lot of the time.

“It’s so easygoing with him, he’s my boyfriend but also one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I’ve never felt more comfortable with someone ever in my life.

“For the future, both of our priorities would be to go travelling.

“We haven’t set any plans in motion or anything yet, but we would like to see Asia. That would be top of the list on where we would want to see ourselves in the next year at least.”