By Kevin Herron
The Devenish played host to Lámh Dhearg’s successful Lip Sync on Saturday evening – ten acts battled it out in front of judges Orla Fitzsimons, Catrina Taylor and Give My Head Peace’s Damon Quinn.
Compere for the night was Bukey and the tone was set for the night ahead early on as a rendition of Amarillo a la style of Peter Kay got the crowd off their feet and into the party mood.
Popular ladies footballer Celine Daly is no stranger to the Devenish stage – having formed a successful duo with Ryan Murray in the clubs Strictly Come Dancing fundraiser.
Though the duo were rivals for the evening as Celine opened the show with Beyonce’s hit ‘Single Ladies’ – that got both ladies and men to their feet in appreciation.
Liz Mulholland was next to grace the Devenish with her presence and just as lyrics the Lou Bega’s hit ‘Mambo Number Five’ suggest the crowd did “Jump up and down and move it all around”.
The next act to ‘bop-bop’ to the stage was Siobhan Gibson – in the presence of her family and friends Siobhan wooed the crowd and swayed the Devenish stage to Christine Aguilera’s ‘Candyman’.
The first duo of the evening arrived to the stage in a makeshift pink convertible as Caoimhe Keegan and Christine Fenton were the driving force behind Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ in tribute to the popular doll manufactured in 1959.
The Murray quartet of Brendan, Kevin, Conor and Ryan moved the crowd with a compelling and moving Westlife song ‘You Raise Me Up’ before an encore of House of Pain ‘Jump Around’ had the audience in frenzy.
The follow-up act to the Murray’s would have a job on their hands but Anne McPeake – along with her daughters Julie Anne and Ciara as back up singers and their loyal supporters felt she was simply the best act of the evening with a rendition of Tina Turners ‘Proud Mary’ .
One proud Mary in the audience was – hurling captain Paddy Joe Herron’s wife Mary who would have enjoyed her husband’s act as Paddy Joe lip-synced Bruno Mars classic ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno’s matching attire for good measure.
Coaching and management can often be a joyful but stressful experience and U-10 Hurling coach Sean McLaren was hoping to clean up the audiences votes as he arrived on stage donning a vacuum cleaner, high heels, a mini-skirt, a moustache and a wig – in his Freddy Mercury tribute ‘I Want to Break Free’.
‘Everybody wants somebody’ and everyone was pleased to see the penultimate act of the evening as iconic duo Tony Stanley and Joe McNeill appeared as the Blue Brothers with their rendition of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’.
The final act of the saw the Five Spices take to the Devenish stage in the form of Linda Fegan, Jenny Annett, Lisa Lowry, Bronagh Keegan and Tina Stanley of the Gaelic for Mothers & Others and their tribute act to the Spice Girls. A mega mix of classics included ‘If You Wanna Be My Lover’ and ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ by the end of the performance the crowd knew who they were and the applause that followed was fitting.
Like all good shows the judge’s views were important but equally important was the audience – compere Bukey did his best Dermot O’Leary five minute warning and the audience were able to donate to the act they felt should be crowned lip sync winners.
After a tally-up a sing off ensued between the Spice Girls and the Murrays. The judges with the unenviable task selected the Murrays as winners after another two very impressive and slick performances which considerably raised the tempo of fun charged atmosphere in the Devenish ballroom.
The ten acts and the audience then came together at the end of the show and joined in the Cha Cha Slide – when everybody had stopped ‘stomping’ and ‘crisscrossing’ Bukey brought a very competitive and successful lip sync battle to a close.
Credit to the organising committee spearheaded by Gavin Brown and Stevie Bunting for such a fantastic night and choreographer Sonia Devlin for her excellent work with the ten acts.
The club would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following for kindly sponsoring tables at our Lip Sync Challenge. Much appreciated and thanks for your contribution to such an enjoyable and successful event and your continuing partnership with the club.
Ace Taxis
AutoCare Direct Car parts and Accessories
Browns Fish and Chips
Country Oaks Daycare
Design and Display
Eagle Taxis
Link Energy
Herron Hurls
Frank Fitzsimons & family
Gymco
Kennedy Centre
26 West Restaurant Bar and Grill
Mooreland Builders Ltd