Mural in memory of sean-nós singer Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin

Back in the day when hitchhiking students were a common sight across Ireland, Cormac Sheil attached little significance to the spins home from school he received from sean-nós singer Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin.

The two were, after all, both frequent fellow travellers on the road to Cúil Aodha, Sheil’s family having recently moved to the Cork Gaeltacht village from Dublin.

The memories of those small kindnesses, of clambering into the back of Ó Súilleabháin’s car and of the chat that ensued, stayed tucked away in the back of Sheil’s mind.