How I met my partner: 'Everybody has this mad idea about romance, but it’s the day-to-day things for me'

From post-nuptial meet cutes to post-house renovations, part-time make-up artist Siobhán O’Mahony met carpenter Timmie O’Brien for the first time 15 years ago.

Siobhán, 47, told The Echo that while their love story didn’t follow the conventional format, she “couldn’t imagine life without [40-year-old Timmie]”.

Having first met Timmie at her sister’s wedding in Skibbereen in 2010, Siobhán said that, while she noticed the Butlerstown native for his good looks, it was more of a “fright at first sight” situation after learning his age.

“We have a very unromantic story. We met 15 years ago at my sister’s wedding. I did fancy him, but I didn’t realise how young he was — so I ran away,” said Siobhán.

“My sister and her husband were living in Courtmacsherry at the time, and Timmie would have been on the social ‘team’ with them.

“My other sister then, her husband was a musician and was playing at the wedding as well [as Timmie], so both of my sisters’ husbands would have been friends with Timmie before I met him.

“Nothing happened the second I found out his age, so we’re only together properly about 10 years.”

While sparks didn’t initially fly, Siobhán said that, at the time of her sister’s wedding, she was in the process of moving into a new house in the West Cork area, leading to frequent interactions with Timmie.

“I had a deposit on a house in Courtmacsherry, and I was moving there the following week [after the wedding], so I knew after meeting him that I’d be seeing him all the time,” said Siobhán.

“We were kind of messing around for a while; but then I moved back to Clonakilty and was working, so I didn’t see him for about a year and a half.”

Fast forward to 2013, Siobhán and Timmie had continued seeing each other on and off, leading to the pair falling pregnant with their first son, Jimmy, who is now 11 years old. “Three years later, we got pregnant,” said Siobhán.

“We got together about a year after Jimmy was born —we were co-parenting for a while, and that’s when I saw how good [Timmie] was and how we were a great unit.

“Jimmy has extra needs, so Timmie couldn’t really take him for a night. So between the jigs and the reels, we had to make a decision.

“We couldn’t mess around, it was either we’re doing it or we’re not,” she added.

“On Jimmy’s first birthday, we got together. The following October we started telling people.

“It wasn’t plain sailing; I don’t know any relationship that is, but I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”

Five years later, the couple decided to take their relationship a step further and welcomed their second child, Miah, who is now six years old.

“We were both anxious to have another baby, and luckily Miah came along in 2019,” said Siobhán.

“That same year, we bought a house in Butlerstown, and it was a complete gut-renovation.

“In 2024, we did the Great House Revival TV show.

“We actually only moved into the house a year ago [last week].”

Looking to the future for the O’Mahony-O’Brien household, Siobhán said that she is looking forward to taking a step back from “running and racing”.

“For us, it was so important to get into the house that a wedding was never really a massive priority,” said Siobhán.

“I wouldn’t necessarily want a big wedding; I’d be happy with something low-key; it’s not a huge deal to us.

“The future for us is actually about being able to generate income from the house, hopefully turn it into an Airbnb, and taking a holiday to relax together.

“Everything we’ve done over the last five years is about getting into that house, so the future really is about having more time together — we’re always running and racing.”

Speaking of her love for her partner, Siobhán said that she doesn’t know “anybody funnier than Timmie”.

“He’s so smart and so funny — you’d want to be up early in the morning, he’s so quick [witted],” said Siobhán.

“Everybody has this mad idea about romance, but it’s the day-to-day things for me.

“My favourite thing about him is that he’s a great dad [but] I’m a sucker for a musician and a DIYer, and he can do that too — I find that very attractive.”