2011 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Four newcomers, four making their second appearance and a variety of seasoned campaigners will take to the lecturn on Friday 18 November to see who will become this year’s Bard of Armagh.  The build-up has begun and ticket fever is more rampant than ever before, with the public needing an outbreak of laughter to remove the gloom that abounds. Finbar Magee, Newry,  John McDonagh, Sligo,

Nellie McGurk, Cookstown and Julie-Ann McCaffrey Enniskillen will bring a new dynamic and energy to the bard event and maybe one of these could have a shock in store for old reliables Jimmy Rafferty, Liam McNally and Henry McGrath.  Themes this year include exotic shopping, maternity ward, love, separation, fairytales, the X factor, farming, the menopause, television, golfing, and a strange writing machine.  Fasten your seat-belts, flex the solar plexus, bard lift-off is nigh.

The finalists are as follows:  (Alphabetical order)

Collette Corrigan - Fairytale in d’ Noose.

Etty Kilbride - The love of her life.

Julie-Ann McCaffrey – The mid-life crisis.

John McDonagh – Dan Winter’s boutique.

Dermott McEnally – Rambo’s rampage.

Nellie McGurk – Wee Jenny’s trouble

Henry McGrath – The priest.

Donal McKenna – The tale of poor aul’ Tim McCann.

Liam McNally – Jelly on the belly.

Seamus McQuaid – The life and times of a golf ball.

Finbar Magee - Sarah Sturgeon, the veterinary surgeon.

Patrick Montague – Me mammy

Jimmy Rafferty – The Y Factor.

Joan Rooney – Willie Wright.