Airport joy as happy couple ring in new era

From a paddle board in sunny Perth where he proposed to his fiancée, to the windswept runway of Cork Airport, Shane O’Driscoll flew through several time zones and thousands of miles to announce his engagement to his family.

Touching down yesterday morning in the company of wife-to-be Blaithín Black, the Skibbereen man found himself surrounded not just by mum and dad, but brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles and even little Jessica, the one-and-a-half year old niece he had never seen.

“We surprised them this morning,” he said when asked if his family were aware before their arrival of the pending nuptials.