Getting Our Irish Up! Favorite Irish Heroes

I'm going with a classic; Niall Burke from Bertrice Small's Skye O'Malley. Bonus points for the author admitting there may be a passing resemblance between Niall and Irish actor Pierce Brosnan in the physical department. Let's drink in that image for a minute, shall we; Pierce Brosnan in sixteenth century Court dress? It's been :coughcough: years since I first read the O'Malley series and I am still not over that man. Courtier, adventurer, athlete, businessman, tender soul and ardent admirer of his ladylove's stregnth and intelligence, Niall is a big part of the reason I can quote the closing lines of Skye O'Malley from memory.

Let's not forget all of Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb's Irish heroes - the Donovans, the Gallaghers, Trace O'Hurley, and of course Roarke.

Oh, you're right! Strange fact actually! I don't know if it's all about kilts _ though I must say Mel Gibson wore it quite well in Braveheart, not to mention Liam Neeson in Rob Roy, lol!

Not my favorite books ever, but I liked the O'Neill brothers in Ruth Langan books - Rory and Conor.
Same thing for Michelle Willingham's MacEgan Brothers series _ not my fav, but good enough.

Nora Roberts also has a few really worthy irish or from irish ascendance heroes. Still speaking contemporary romance, I also liked Sally Clement's Catch me a catch, set in Ireland.

I would have quoted Shirley Kennedy's the Irish Upstart but if I remember well the story is set in England and the hero is English (yet, the heroin is Irish, does it count?)!

Actually, I have the feeling that the few Irish romances I know are about Irish heroins and foreign heroes.

It's easier to find some Irish heroes in movies I guess. Cillian Murphy was awesome in The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Pierce Brosnan as a family guy fighting for his daughter in Evelyn was heart-melting, and Liam Neeson was downright amazing as Michael Collins. I also worship _ quite literally _ Daniel Day Lewis in In the Name of the Father. Sadly, none of those are romance movies.

@Lafka, Liam Neeson is amazing in anything. His character's love story in Love Actually was already over, as he played a grieving widower, but by the movie's end, there was a hopeful note with a new acquaintance.

Back in 2000, Berkley had a short lived Irish Eyes line of romances, mostly historical, though I think there was a contemporary or two, but sadly, the line didn't last .

@Lafka - for movies, how about Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman? The characters were Irish, even if most of the actors weren't.

@AnnaBowling - Oh, you're so right about Liam Neeson, the man could be reading the latest corporate tax law, I'd still find him outrageously sexy and unbelievably amazing. *swoon*

@Katy L - I'm very sorry, I haven't seen Far and Away, I'm really not much into Tom Cruise nor Nicole Kidman. Was it good? I think that counts for Irish hero even if the actor isn't, doesn't it?

One word: Barrons.

@Lafka OMG, I loved Rob Roy!
I have to mention Bran from Mercy Thompson and Alpha&Omega series. Bran is irish, he's a gentleman, he's Alpha but not Alphole and he can sing! Woof!
@Chelsea- Barrons! Oh, yeah...

For a book made into a movie, I've always liked Secret of Friends by Maeve Binchy. Another movie I liked was Matchmaker.

I'm reading a Marian Keyes right now and it has a couple of lovely Irish males in it too.

My Irish hero is my Uncle Guy. He married my dad's sister and has always been my favorite uncle and was always willing to spend time with any kids that wanted a little extra attention.

@Pam B - that's so sweet! And I agree with you, no fictionnal hero is worth the real-life ones, Irish or not :-)

@Chelsea Muller - Perhaps I lack cultural references here, what / who is Barrons?

Gabriel Byrne
:sigh:
I would pay good cash money to see him sit in a chair on-stage and read the telephone directory.

@Lafka - It's been years since I've seen Far and Away, but I remember liking it at the time. It's a star-crossed lovers tale set in the late 19th or early 20th century - he's a lower class Irish farmer, she's the landowner's daughter, they run away to America, complications and adventures ensue, they're separated, they get back together, and all is well at the end.

I adore Nora Roberts' trilogies set in Ireland. I did want to add a favorite book/hero of mine, The Last Bride in Ballymuir by Dorien Kelly. The hero is Michael Kilbride and the story was different from the other books I had been reading at the time.

Lafka, Barrons is the male protagonist (hero might be stretching it!) of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series, and I second Chelsea's enthusiasm. He is delicious.

If you keep putting up pictures of Michael Fassbender, I'll never get through a post!

I second Barrons and add Christian. Also, talking about actors, I can`t seem to get my eyes off Colin Farrell ...