Eoghan and Mark are showing each step of the process online ahead of the launch
18:30, 20 Feb 2026Updated 09:13, 21 Feb 2026
Eoghan Hegarty and Mark O’Connell are the brains behind FÃor Matcha
Starting a business is a complicated challenge full of barriers you never saw coming – now two Carrigaline lads are giving people a detailed look at how the process works as they build a first-of-its-kind company in Ireland.
Eoghan Hegarty and Mark O’Connell are the brains behind FÃor Matcha, a new business launching next month that will be the first to sell canned matcha in Ireland.
The two 24-year-olds went to Carrigaline Community School together and have been friends for more than 10 years – they came up with the idea for the brand when they were travelling around Thailand together two years ago.
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Eoghan told CorkBeo: “Matcha is so popular over there and you can buy it in cans everywhere, we came home and you can get it in some cafes but there’s no canned matcha here.”
They have two main focuses as they look ahead at launching the business – making sure their product is healthy and that they deal with other Irish companies.
Eoghan said: “We only use five ingredients, there aren’t any preservatives or anything like that. We’re both really into health and fitness so want to make sure this is a healthy way of getting energy and caffeine. A lot of products claim to be healthy but they’re actually full of preservatives.
“We want to be engrained in the Irish community, we only work with Irish brands and the product itself is made here in Ireland.”
FÃor Matcha launches next month
Their main priority now is making sure everything is ready to go for their launch in Dublin’s Blackrock Market on March 28 and 29 – but they’ve got big plans for where they want to take the brand in the future.
“We’d love to have a stall in the Marina Market some day. We’re in talks at the moment with some Irish festivals and then we want to move into cafes before eventually getting it into retail stores.”
They’ve racked up 30,000 views on their Instagram account where they’re documenting the journey leading up to the launch – from the overall goal of the product to the finer details like packaging and finding suppliers.
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“We’re constantly overcoming different obstacles and there are always new barriers coming up that we have to solve but it’s amazing, the whole process is really exciting.
“We want to share every step of it to show people all the small details that go into starting a business because there are a lot of people out there who are interested in business and hopefully this could inspire them.”
It’s a big task and they’re both putting in long hours to make it a reality from their new home in Dublin, but Eoghan said they’re getting huge backing from everyone here in Cork.
“We’re getting amazing support, everyone’s sharing the videos, all of our friends and family so it’s great.”
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