Gogglebox Ireland cast less than complimentary about Mullingar
Horan's mum defends son over Guinness sponsorship
If you've never watched it, Gogglebox Ireland on Virgin Media, sees a few families from around the country watch some of the week's top television to get their reaction to it.
On Wednesday night, we saw their reaction to Niall Horan’s trip around Ireland with Lewis Capaldi, which aired the previous Sunday night.
While watching ‘Niall Horan’s Homecoming: The Road to Mullingar with Lewis Capaldi’, one of the Cabra Girls remarked:
“I forgot that he was from Mullingar until I went down, and the kip’s a shrine to him and Joe Dolan,” says Jamie.
Conor and Emma Lynch, originally from Crumlin, but now living in Bettystown, also went pretty hard on both Niall and the town, saying:
“Now, if I was in the back-seat of that car, I’d just open the door and jump,” says Conor, and later dubs words over Niall's hit song ‘This Town’:
“I hate this town, get me out,” he mocks, while his sister Emma adds, “That’s why I left in the first place”.
“Doesn’t he just look so wealthy, Niall Horan,” say David and John in Ranelagh, Dublin.
“I had to go to Mullingar because it was the only place my health insurance would pay for my wisdom teeth removal. When I went down, every single shop had a cardboard cutout of him in the window," adds David.
Friends Angela and Eileen were big fans of Niall Horan’s however:
“Jayus isn’t he fab, Niall, isn’t he… Jesus he’s gorgeous. I mean even Lewis is starting to look alright as well.”
Husband and wife pair, David and Sarah Reilly in Dundalk, said:
“I’ve never really been to Mullingar, there’s not much in it is there?” asks Emma, “Oh wait, we got married there, did we?”, to which husband Conor puts his head in his hands and agrees that, “Yes,” they did get married in Mullingar.
Sarah later checks her Twitter account and sees that Niall Horan follows her social media account.
The Tully Twins, Fergal and Neil in Cavan couldn’t understand what celebrities do for fun these days as they watch Horan and Capaldi visit an Oyster Farm in Carlingford Lough:
“That’s what people are doing now to entertain themselves, they doing dirty aul shitty jobs, that’s entertainment for them.”
Liveline criticism
Meanwhile, Maura Gallagher had to defend her son Niall Horan on Joe Duffy's Liveline on RTÉ Radio One.
"He was holding a pint of Guinness but it was Zero Zero all the way," she said, following complaints from a listener.
Kevin O'Rourle, a reformed drinker, sparked the debate on Tuesday saying the Niall Horan documentary was "sponsored by Guinness, and I just thought to myself that it shouldn't have been, Niall Horan is only 29 and has a young demographic listenership."
“It wasn’t the alcoholic Guinness, and he wasn’t drinking and driving or any of that sort of thing,” Maura Gallagher said in her son's defence.
"I can only speak about the part where he came to Mullingar and he was in the pub. I was there and Zero Zero was given and I can’t drink it because I’m celiac, but my husband tasted it and he said it was lovely."