Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

At the age of 17, singer/songwriter Niall McNamee followed a well-trodden path, emigrating from Ireland to London. He moved to pursue a potential career acting, planning for three years of drama school that ultimately amounted to three months.

It was no great setback – working on building sites and playing gigs in Irish pubs, McNamee threw himself into his two passions, and this year both have yielded great rewards.

Earlier this month, his debut album Glass and Mirrors arrived, littered with stories of London and home.

And on the acting side – fittingly for a self-described “romantic football fan who writes songs” – McNamee landed the part of Irish goalkeeper Alan Kelly in the feature film Saipan, set for release in January.

On the musical front, Niall McNamee plays Monroe’s in Galway next Thursday, October 30, as part of a UK and Irish tour.

“There’s a pressure” to it he says, given the cogs involved at this new heightened stage of his career. Still, at the time of speaking, he is taking a rare moment to pause and appreciate a major landmark.

“It’s a really difficult thing to get finished and made,” McNamee says of the album.

“It’s been exhausting but it has been joyful as well. I can’t really explain what the feeling was like when it came out on Friday last week. I’m getting such lovely feedback from people. I’ve never released an album before so I didn’t know what to expect.

“I’ve released singles and they had exciting moments, and also moments when I felt like it was going to be a big moment, and nothing happened. So this one feels good. It’s been an exhausting time, but it’s been really fun.”

McNamee mentions influences like Christy Moore and the Pogues – particularly in their capacity as chroniclers of the London Irish experience. Listening back to the album, he reckons he can hear more of his heroes than he initially realised.

“There’s one that I wrote when I was 17 about my grandad, called Clones Fireman,” McNamee says.

“There are some that are written really quite recently. I started recording the album three years ago, and I think we had a list of about 16 songs. There are six songs on the album that weren’t on that list – they weren’t written yet. I hate the word because of the X-Factor, but it’s been a journey.”

Pictured: Niall McNamee…plays Monroe’s next Thursday.