Kinnitty event honouring Oasis star hailed as huge success

With a large chunk of the country in the grip of Oasis ticket sales fever last weekend, Kinnitty hosted what was described as "a truly unique event" honouring one of the band's founding members, Tony McCarroll.

The drummer, who has strong links to the Offaly village, was honoured with a commemorative blue plaque during the gathering on Saturday.

McCarroll lived in Kinnitty for a number of years and was Oasis' drummer from 1991 until April 1995. He played the drums on the band's classic album Definitely Maybe, which sold over 8.5 million copies worldwide.

He also contributed to Some Might Say, Oasis' first number one single, from the subsequent album, What’s the Story, Morning Glory?

Local councillor John Clendennen, who was one of the organisers of last weekend's event, described it as, "an absolutely brilliant night".

"It has been an absolute pleasure organising the event with both Tony McCarroll and John McFadden. It was five years in the making, but Covid and Brexit, among other logistics, put a halt to our plans to have it any sooner.

"It was brilliant to have this event coincide with the tickets sales (for next year's Oasis concerts in Dublin) and to see so much media interest.

"Several headlines in recent days referred to having two Mayo men playing in Croke Park next August. Hopefully we'll see an Offaly man playing along beside them, as one of the founding members of the band,” Cllr Clendennen said.

The blue plaque initiative is something that both Cllr Clendennen and John McFadden would like to see continued in the village and become an annual event over the next number of years.

"There are several people that have a connection, or are from the village, that we could possibly celebrate. This is also an element of heritage that we should be promoting more," said the Fine Gael representative.

"It would be wonderful to see members of the community coming forward with ideas and getting involved, and making it a date in the calendar that everyone looks forward to," he concluded.