TWO talented dancers from Belmullet showed off their skills as the whole nation was watching last Friday. James (12) and Mary Kate Reilly (14) represented Mayo in the county parade on the Late Late Toy Show.

They even got to meet Patrick Kielty himself and had a chat with him. “He was so lovely to them. That was the highlight,” explained their mum Dana afterwards, speaking to The Mayo News.

“Patrick spoke to them about his recent trip to Wetsport golfing and Mary Kate and James told him of our wonderful golf course in Belmullet and told him on his next trip to be sure to visit it and to pop into our shop while visiting and say hello.”

Mary Kate and James felt like celebrities all weekend. Good luck wishes, messages and cards were pouring in and meant the world to them.

“The night itself was magical, meeting all the other children on the show and guests, everyone was treated like royalty and they will have memories to last a lifetime,” said their mother Dana.

“From the bottom of our hearts we would love to thank everybody who made their Late Late Toy Show experience one they will never forget.”

‘Very proud’

THE whole family was up in Dublin for the Late Late Toy Show on Friday, including father Gabriel, and the other siblings, Oliver (10) and Donal (6).

Their mum was ‘very proud’ of them and pointed out that the two have won loads of competitions at agricultural shows across the country because the Reillys also have cattle and sheep.

“When they finish with the sheep and the cows, they’d head down to the dance floor and into the competition,” Dana explained before their leaving for the RTÉ studios on Friday.

She handed in the Late Late Toy Show application for the two back in October and Mary Kate and James got an audition.

“When we went to the RTÉ studios for the audition, they really enjoyed it, they had a routine made up themselves of three and half minutes,” Dana recalls. "It was a line dance into a jive and it blew the judges away. They loved the experience of being interviewed and couldn’t believe they were on the Late Late Show set doing what they love.”

Mary Kate and James have a grá for the jiving and dancing. They are well used to performing in front of an audience. They have been taking classes with the renowned Sandra Ganley dance school in Kiltimagh.

“She had a class in Belmullet and after that they said to me ‘Mum, that was the best thing we were ever at’. They just took it up so fast jiving, waltzing and line dancing and they are great at them all,” says mother Dana on how Mary Kate and James started dancing. They were 11 and 9 at the time.

So they’ve had plenty of training and experience in the last three years for the show on Friday night. And it seemed the whole of Belmullet and indeed Mayo were happy to see Mary Kate and James on the screen Friday night. A memory they will hold dearly surely.

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