![\"Diarmuid](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/f4bfb4fd-1953-416c-876f-deacc534534e.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDiarmuid, now 21, is the brother of current Cork Rose Nancy Lehane, and the former publican has been matched on the hit show with student teacher Shannon, who hails from Limerick.<\/p>\n
Diarmuid is a popular figure in his native Meelin and neighbouring Newmarket, thanks not least to his stint as the main man at The Rock Bar in Newmarket.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Corkman ahead of broadcasting, Diarmuid paid tribute to Maura Sheahan, who trusted him to run The Rock Bar at the age of 19.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took over the pub in October 2023, and it was a lovely experience for a year, and is definitely something I would get back into.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just isn\u2019t the right time at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During their date, the pair quickly realise they have a host of mutual friends and that Shannon even taught Diarmuid\u2019s brothers last year.<\/p>\n
They self-proclaimed \u2018culchies\u2019 spoke about the difficulty with socialising in rural towns and villages.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Diarmuid and Shannon.
\nPicture: RT\u00c9<\/p>\n
Diarmuid told The Corkman that Newmarket was previously \u201cdying\u201d but is \u201cafter being brought back to life again.\u201d<\/p>\n
All roads lead to Quinlan\u2019s Pub in Meelin on Thursday as a special watch party will take place.<\/p>\n
Diarmuid expects half the village to be in attendance and is \u201cglad to say Meelin is the spot to be in on Thursday night,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>\n
The car salesman thanked Pat and Breda O\u2019Callaghan, of Quinlan\u2019s, for their hospitality ahead of the big showing.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, single mother Boo, 32 meets hyperconfident, self-confessed \u2018wreck the head\u2019 tattoo artist Lisa, 36, from Athy. They soon discover that hailing from Kildare isn\u2019t the only thing they share.<\/p>\n
Marine biologist \u00c1ine, 31, from Clare discovers a rare and exotic creature in the form of hyperactive junior doctor Keith, 34, from Dublin.<\/p>\n
Disco-dancing divorcee Margaret, 67, from Malahide gets down with a man from Down Under \u2013 semi-retired primary school teacher and filmmaker Robin, 60, from Melbourne.<\/p>\n
First Dates Ireland returns on Thursday, January 29 at 9:35pm on RT\u00c92.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diarmuid, now 21, is the brother of current Cork Rose Nancy Lehane, and the former publican has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,16345,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-268664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-martin-mongan","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}