Michaela and best bud Brian on Late Late Show

DOUBLE ACT Michaela Morley appeared on The Late Late Show with Brian O’Driscoll last Friday.  Pic: RTÉ Player

Ciara Galvin

BALLYGLASS girl Michaela Morley won the hearts of the nation again on Friday night when she was a guest on The Late Late Show, along with her buddy, Brian O’Driscoll.
The two struck up a friendship after the former Ireland rugby international visited her in her ward at Temple Street Hospital, fresh from winning the European Cup with Leinster in 2011.
Michaela, who has polycystic kidneys and was six at the time, had been in the Dublin hospital on one of her thrice weekly visits for dialysis, from her home in Ballyglass, Claremorris, when a photographer captured the now well-known image.
The sixth class pupil from Mount Pleasant NS, Ballyglass, explained to Ryan Tubridy the backstory of the image, which shows her delighted with her hands in the air as O’Driscoll holds the cup.
“He came in with the cup and he had a little ball with him, and he gave me the ball and I had to throw it in. So I threw it in and I got it in and the reason I was like that [hands in the air] is because I got it in, not because I knew him,” she laughed.
Since the two met, there has been a special bond between the pair, Brian said.
“We just hit if off didn’t we?” Brian said, turning to Michaela.
“It’s hard not to feel the energy and I think you feel better about yourself being in her presence,” he added.
The pair were on the show to talk about donor cards. The 13 year-old, whose proud parents SeΡn and Bridie were in the audience, explained that since she has received her kidney transplant she has got greater ‘freedom’ as she no longer needs dialysis.
O’Driscoll has been involved with Temple Street for more than ten years.
Last month the pair met up once again at the opening of the new Renal and Neurology Outpatient Units in the hospital.
Michaela explained that the new Unit is very important for patients and that carrying a donor card means ‘you’re doing a nice thing for people like me’