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Dermot O'Brien

Dermot O'Brien
Dermot O'Brien accordionist.jpg
Personal information
Irish name Diarmuid Ó Briain
Sport Gaelic football
Position Centre-forward
Born (1932-10-23)23 October 1932
Ardee, County Louth, Ireland
Died 22 May 2007(2007-05-22) (aged 74)
Ardee, County Louth, Ireland
Occupation Musician
Club(s)
Years Club
1949–1960 St. Mary's
Club titles
Louth titles 3
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
1952–1960 Louth
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles 2
All-Irelands 1
NFL 0

Dermot O'Brien (23 October 1932 – 22 May 2007) was an Irish céilí and showband musician and singer, as well as a Gaelic footballer who played as a centre-forward with the Louth senior football team.

O'Brien made his first appearance for the Louth team during the 1952 championship and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until a broke finger ended his career in 1960. During that time he has won one All-Ireland winners' medal and two Leinster winners' medals. In 1957 O'Brien captained the team to the All-Ireland title.

At club level O'Brien was a three-time county club championship medalist with St. Mary's.

A long-time amateur musician, in 1962 O'Brien became a professional musician when his band the Clubmen went professional; O'Brien played the piano accordion for the band rather than the more typical Irish button accordion. Dermot O'Brien and the Clubmen had considerable musical success, with their hit single "The Merry Ploughboy" (a cover of an old song about joining the Irish Republican Army) reaching the top of the Irish Singles Chart in only seven days and holding that position for six weeks in late 1966. The single was rushed to market to compete with a Top 100-ranking cover of the same song by the Abbey Tavern Singers.

In the late 1960s, O'Brien began his own RTÉ show called "The Styles of O'Brien".


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