February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
On the advice of Shane’s doctor, the pair flew to Dubai recently for a little recuperative R&R. One evening, while they were lounging in deckchairs by the hotel swimming pool looking at the night sky, Gillian mentioned how beautiful the stars looked.
Cue the string quartet.
“I pulled out the ring and said, ‘What do you think of this star?'” said Shane. “She grabbed [the ring] off me.”
Shane, being a dacent, traditional Sligo man, did the dacent, traditional thing.
“I went down on one knee and said ‘Will you marry me?'” he recalled.
Gillian, of course, kept her cool. Not.
“[She] screamed, said yes and started crying,” he laughed. “[She was] hugging and kissing me.”
The Walsh-Filan nuptials won’t be the only confetti-tossing occasion for the band this year. Fellow Westie Nicky Byrne will tie the knot with his fiancee — Taosieach Bertie Ahern’s daughter Georgina — this year as well. Which means, ladies, get your hat rental orders in early.