COMMEMORATIVE SCULPTURE FOR THE BEGLEYS UNVEILED IN DUBLIN

A commemorative statue in honour of the famous Begley family from Dingle, County Kerry, has been unveiled in Dublin to widespread acclaim.

The ceremony in Ireland's capital took place yesterday afternoon, where supporters of the Begley family and the Begley's themselves gathered for the official unveiling of the sculpture, which depicts a grinning Cormac Begley in devilment mode with a full head of curly red, Begley hair.

Breandan, Cormac and Conchubhair Begley were in attendance and gave a resounding thumbs up to the sculpture, which was incorrectly reported in news outlets as being Luke Kelly, due to the similarities in their hairstyles.

Cormac explained: "It's a great honour for the family to be thought of in this way and extra special for myself that my head was chosen to be immortalised. I know people thought it was Luke Kelly, but just to clarify it is actually myself!"

Organisers behind the sculpture said they wanted to honour the Begley family for their years of commitment to music, devilment and craic, not just in Dingle, but at every festival they attend.

Thaddeus O'Luanaigh, chairman of the county board told The Drone: "Even before I was into traditional music myself I had heard of the Begleys. And I don't just mean in a word of mouth sense, I mean I could literally hear the famous 'Begley Roar' from the next town."

"When The Arts Council were allocating funding, we thought that it was only right to recognise the valuable contribution they have made to traditional Irish music, and not just to the music itself. I remember being in Ballyferriter and seeing Conchubhair carrying Breandan on his shoulders. It was mad! You can't bottle that. That kind of craic is in your blood."

Former The Frames frontman and Oscar winner Glen Hansard was in attendance and also showed his appreciation for the sculpture, saying it was "an incredibly accurate representation of the Begley spirit, epitomised by the twinkle-eyed Cormac".

The ceremony ended with Cormac, Conchubhair and Breandan climbing atop the structure and playing a set of tunes whilst sitting on each others' shoulders.