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Mona's head still all of a whirl over Daniel

June 26th, 2016 11:55 AM

By Jackie Keogh

Daniel O'Donnell is met by fans on his arrival at Bridge House, Skibbereen, for the filming of the upcoming series of Daniel and Majella's B&B Road Trip for RTÉ.

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Her confession won’t appear when Daniel & Majella’s B&B Road Trip is aired by RTÉ in the autumn, but Mona Best has admitted; “I think I have fallen in love with Daniel O’Donnell.”

HER confession won’t appear when Daniel & Majella’s B&B Road Trip is aired by RTÉ in the autumn, but Mona Best has admitted; “I think I have fallen in love with Daniel O’Donnell.”

The dedicated 70-year-old rock chick and owner of the Bridge House B&B in Skibbereen, has fallen for the crooner – a miraculous conversion that followed a visitation by the singer and his wife, Majella, on Saturday last.

Mona – who normally does vintage and even grunge quite well – was looking like a Botticelli angel in a white flowing dress, and had flowers in her hair, when Daniel and Majella arrived at 11am on Saturday morning.

The couple were happily mobbed by a group of women of a certain age. And there was a general flurry of excitement as RTÉ crews filmed them making their way to Bridge House, which one person rather fabulously described on Twitter as the kind of guesthouse that Liberace would have designed – a reference to its red velvet wallpaper.

On Tuesday, Mona’s head was still all of a whirl over Daniel, but even she had to pause when one fan from American rang her and asked if she could buy the sheets that Daniel had slept in. But Mona – being a model of efficiency – declined, saying they had already been twice through the spin cycle.

One of the highlights of the weekend – which Mona jokingly referred to as being ‘a classic scene-stealing moment’ – happened when her neighbour Peggy Hayes took centre stage and sang ‘Red is the Rose’ with Daniel at an impromptu session at The Corner Bar. The pub, owned by William and Valerie O’Brien, was full of fans but it’s the images of the silver-haired Peggy that are all over Facebook. 

‘It was 24 hours, but 24 hours I won’t forget in a hurry,’ said Mona. ‘Despite the stress of having cameras everywhere, I’d do it again in the morning. Daniel was simply lovely. He charmed everyone. He was a gentleman.’

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