Meath pals make finals of Germany's Got Talent
A Celtic show - fronted by three Dunboyne friends - have 'bizarrely' made it to the final of Germany's Got Talent by singing in the Irish language.
Dulaman have also scored a Sony record deal in Germany and will now perform live in the pre-Christmas final of Das Supertalent alongside 13 other acts next week.
The troupe, consisting of Irish dancers, a live band and four lead vocalists, impressed judge Dieter Bohlen when they launched into one of his 80s pop songs - Brother Louie - as gaeilge.
Dieter was part of Germany's most successful pop duo Modern Talking who had a number of top five hits in the 1980s including 'You're my Heart, You're My Soul' ad 'Geronimo's Cadillac.'
Dieter also loved the audition so much, he signed the band to do an album in German with Sony Music.
Ironically Dulaman only auditioned for the popular show as a way of promoting their forthcoming January tour of the country.
Three of the four lead singers, Sean Keany, Conor McQuaid and Gavin Ryan are all friends from Dunboyne, Co. Meath while Aaron Doyle is from Monasterevin, Co. Kildare.
"The new show was set to tour most of Germany and the idea was to audition to promote the show. We thought we would get a bit of air time on the telly and people would then recognise us," said Sean, who is currently directing the 'Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf,' panto in Dunboyne.
"But it snowballed from there. We got through the auditions and now we are in the final."
"It was all so bizarre.
"We were just trying to promote the tour. One minute we are having pints in Dwyer's in Dunboyne and now we are in the final of Das Supertalent.. Sure we thought we were initially going over to Germany for a quiet weekend break," he laughed.
"We got a huge reaction from the audience when they saw what we were doing and you feed off that energy. Germans love Irish music. When Dieter heard us launch into Brother Louie in Irish, you could see his eyes light up!"
Dulaman - which is Irish for seaweed - will perform live in Germany next Saturday.
Conor from Millfarm has just graduated with a law degree but is concentrating on his singer-songwriting career with a newly-launched song 'Are you going out tonight?'
The three friends all knew each other from the musicals in Dunboyne and through their school St Peter's, to which they have attributed their musical direction.
"The school were fantastic and were so fundamental in encouraging us to follow our love of music. There's a huge correlation in how much they pushed us and supported us to what we are all doing now," said Sean.