Shamrock Tenors offer travel and dining advice for Cyclone football fans headed to Ireland

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16-03-2025

When you're planning to travel, there's no better source for information than locals.
So when the five handsome lads in the Shamrock Tenors were in Ames on March 4, the Ames Tribune jumped at the chance to ask about traveling to the Emerald Isle.
Their visit from Northern Ireland was a prelude to their March 25 concert at Stephens Auditorium. The Shamrock Tenors include Jimmy Johnston, Matthew Campbell, Jack Walsh, Tom Brandon and Raymond Walsh.
More: Shamrock Tenors played an informal gig at Dublin Bay as they gear up for Stephens Auditorium concert
Gathered around the big table at Dublin Bay Irish Pub & Grill, the singers were accompanied by another famous Irish tenor, Michael Londra, who is a producer for the group's first U.S. tour.
Londra, who lives in Ames, is the host and producer of the popular PBS show 'Ireland with Michael,' which is currently in its fifth season. He is a lead producer on 'Get Happy,' a new musical coming to Broadway in 2025. As a performer, he was the lead singer of 'Riverdance' on Broadway.
The Shamrock Tenors' tour includes five Iowa venues: Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Ames, Davenport and Ottumwa, four of which are VenuWorks facilities like Stephens Auditorium.
The Iowa State University football team will play its first-ever football game outside of the United States when it opens the 2025 season against Kansas State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
With one of the tenors, Jimmy Johnston, decked out in a new ISU hat at Dublin Bay and another tenor, Matthew Campbell, sharing the name of Iowa State's head football coach, the conversation was lively and full of laughter. Campbell joked about singing the national anthem before the game in August.
More: Irish tenor Michael Londra launched PBS series 'Ireland with Michael' from Ames home
Ireland visitors do best to get off the beaten path, the Shamrock Tenors agreed.
Campbell suggested visiting many of the country's eclectic small villages and towns.
'You're three hours west to Galway, one of my favorite cities in Ireland. You're about 90 minutes up to Belfast,' he said. 'If you want to see the proper kind of traditional Ireland, get into those little towns in the outskirts.'
A direct train from Dublin to Belfast will take about 90 minutes to two hours.
The whole island is about the size of Indiana, Londra said.
'You can drive from one end of Ireland to the other in six hours,' Raymond Walsh said. 'Our next drive is to Manhattan, Kansas. So it's crazy to think that in that amount of time you can drive the full length of the country.'
Walsh also recommended driving up the west coast of Ireland from Kerry, where Tom Brandon's family is from, through Galway and right up the Atlantic Coast to Donegal.
'It's honestly spectacular,' he said. 'If you have the ability to stay for a couple of weeks after the game, you could travel 30 minutes to a new place and experience an entirely new culture, new sites. It's pretty extraordinary what you're able to do in such a small distance.'
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When the Shamrock Tenors and Michael Londra were asked about their favorite Irish foods, they quickly referred to their mothers' kitchens. But many of those dishes are staples at restaurants and pubs across the Emerald Isle.
Tom Brandon recommended lamb shank, 'especially my mom's lamb shank' — just lamb and potatoes and a bit of gravy.
'Irish people love their mothers," Raymond Walsh said. "My favorite's my mom's Irish stew, like that homemade stew with carrots, potatoes, absolutely top drawer."
He also suggested a popular snack.
'O'Donnells crisps are top tier — you call them 'chips' here, I always forget,' he said. 'If you're in Ireland for the Iowa State game, people will always go for the Tato brand, which is also nice. But O'Donnells is just on another level.'
On St. Patrick's Day, Campbell's family has a tradition where his mom makes a big pot of beef stew.
'It tastes even better the day after,' he said. 'The day you make it, it's nice, but a day or two later,
For Londra, one of the meals he misses most is a true Irish breakfast, especially with Irish bacon or sausages.
American bacon and sausage is 'adjacent to what Irish taste like,' he said. 'Until you go home and you have a full Irish breakfast, especially if you've been out the night before for pints and you just need that soakage.'
Johnston said he enjoys fresh baked soda bread, untoasted with butter. He also likes to put steak sausages on it.
Some Americans might be surprised that bacon and cabbage, and corned beef and cabbage are not common on an Irish menu. Those Irish-inspired food traditions started in the United States.
Also the boxty is not readily available in Ireland, but Londra is a fan of the menu item at Dublin Bay in Ames. It's a potato pancake stuffed with a Guinness-marinated beef or corned beef. It's then folded over like a burrito and covered with gorgonzola cream sauce.
'It's just gorgeous,' Londra said.
The lads' March 25 concert at Stephens Auditorium will start at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $30 and are available at ticketmaster.com.
Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: An Irish band has some advice for Cyclone fans headed to Ireland