Move over Geezer, there’s a new song in town! In the aftermath of the momentous Ulster Championship Final win, one Armagh man has created a new song to help spur the team along on their road to Dublin.
Thirty-one-year-old Shaun Duncan has long been a lover of music… and GAA.
While he has been writing music for the last year or so he never thought about combining those passions until the Orchard Men saw off fierce competition from Monaghan, to bring the cup home on May 16.
Speaking to Armagh I, Shaun said he has always been interested in dance music but when they were celebrating the Armagh win, his wife asked a favour of him, “Shaun, I want you to write an Armagh song”.
And so he did.
“I got stuck into it,” he said. “It took me a few days to write my lyrics and then a few days to find the beats online. It made it easy because of winning the final. The memories of Armagh winning the All-Ireland… it was one of the best moments of my life. All the fans were buzzing and everyone jumping around together.”
Like fans across the county, he’s a massive lover of Plenty in the Tank’s ‘G stands for Geezer’ – the song that catapulted to fame during Armagh’s historic 2024 All-Ireland win.
But, he recognised that beyond that and ‘The Armagh Bus is Coming’, we – as a county – were in need of another song.
The enthusiasm was untameable. Within a matter of days, Shaun had his chorus and tune together. He called it ‘One Way to Dublin’ and bravely released the 30-second short on social media.
It kicked off immediately, he said: “I was getting so many messages, I didn’t expect it. For me… I’m just doing it for a hobby and people were asking for a full version and I couldn’t believe it.”
He’s up-front and completely transparent about his use of technology and AI in the creation of the track. “It’s not me singing,” he laughed. “I tried it like that but it just didn’t sound right”.
Instead, Shaun had utilised music-specific software to bring his own lyrics and concept to life. Sometimes, he says it “doesn’t always work” but on this occasion, we think it’s safe to say, it did!
He has now released the full two minute version due to popular demand and has even been getting videos sent of people listening to it in their car.
On one occasion he said: “My friend was on a beach in Donegal and heard people playing it. He went up and said ‘that’s my friend’s song!’ I can’t believe it’s made it all the way to Donegal already!”
He has high hopes that a line in ‘One Way to Dublin’ may prove a sort of premonition.
“We’re going all the way is a line in the song,” he said. “If we actually did win it, it would just be amazing!
“It’s a strong team, strong bench so who knows? The fans are all behind them. I remember when McGeeney first came in we were Division 3 and now everyone is just raring to go.”
For now, he’s just soaking up all the hype and enjoying the support and positivity, which has been completely overwhelming.
“My plans are to see how things go and I just hope the fan base will grow for my dance music too. I’ll take it one day at a time and see where this takes me.
“It makes me want to thrive and do more. I was afraid, it was my first TikTok video with me speaking and I thought I would get some backlash but it hasn’t been like that. It’s been great… so now I just want to do more.”
Listen to ‘One Way to Dublin’ on YouTube here.
