The country of Ireland made a global impact over the past 15 years, not only in combat sports, but through music groups like Celtic Thunder.
[Editor’s Note: MMA Crossfire is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2025. Editor-in-Chief Kenai Andrews takes a look back at 15 impactful Crossfire stories]
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The Irish singing group Celtic Thunder have thrilled millions of fans across the world since their inception in 2007, sharing Celtic mythology, Irish culture, song, and story in an immersive fashion.
“Especially with these new show Mythology that we’re performing now,” Byrne explained to The Crossfire from Vancouver during a break in rehearsal in 2013. “We’ve really gone back to tour roots with this show. That’s why we call it Mythology is because it’s based on myths and legends. That’s something we’ve been hearing these stories since we were kids. and now we’re telling these stories through the songs.
“It’s so nice to do it because the song are beautiful. Some of the old Scottish and Irish ones are absolutely gorgeous with a lot of romanticism attached to it. A lot of them we don’t know who wrote them because they’re so old, but they’re so beautiful. We’re so lucky that we can get out there every night so we can sing it to people.”
Neil is a huge Mike Tyson and boxing fan along with member George Donaldson, who unfortunately passed away in 2014. In fact, Neil is from Bray, the same hometown as undisputed light welterweight women’s champion and Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor. He even went to the same school as her and is a family friend.
Celtic Thunder, Katie Taylor, Conor McGregor, and many others combined to make a tremendous Irish impact on sports and entertainment over the last 15 years. They were not content to simply take part, they were determined to take over.
