Hundreds of people thronged the streets in Salthill and the city centre this week when word spread like wildfire that Ed Sheeran was in town to film the video for his hit song ‘Galway Girl’.
But unbeknownst to most of the fans eager to catch a glimpse of the chart-topping singer, Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan and Love/Hate stars Peter Coonan and Laurence Kinlan – Fran and Elmo – were also in tow.
Details of the shoot – which included shutting down William Street to record footage from his busking spot as a teenager – were kept a closely guarded secret, but word quickly spread when he was spotted in the laneway beside O’Connor’s Famous Pub in Salthill on Tuesday afternoon.
Ed and Saoirse arrived in Salthill at around 2.30pm, where they used the nearby home of publican Frank O’Connor as a ‘green room’ before the shoot.
“We were sworn to secrecy and signed agreements, we weren’t allowed tell anyone, I couldn’t even tell my kids why I was clearing out the house. My youngest asked if we were selling the house or something!” said Frank.
But by that stage, the cat was out of the bag – Ed had been spotted embracing members of his production team in the laneway beside the O’Connor family’s pub, and dozens of people began to gather.
It’s understood that dancers from the Celine Hession School of Dancing in Salthill, under their teacher Gemma Carney, also feature in footage recorded in the pub.
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