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A Galway girl and a Limerick Lady.”
That is how radio presenter Meghann Scully describes herself, quite obviously the reason being that she has an affinity with both places.
See, she was born and bred in Co Galway, firstly in An Spidéal and latterly on her grandmother’s farm in Ardrahan, before going on to study and kick-start her career in Limerick.
This weekend, Meghann will officially launch her new book Broken Love, which she feels fits aptly into her Galway/Limerick identity.
“My time now is pretty much divided between Galway and Limerick.
"Most of what happened to me in the book, happened in Galway, but I wrote a lot of the book while I was in Limerick,” explains Meghann.
Broken Love chronicles Meghann’s journey through grieving for her brother Marcus and her father Maxie.
In 2005, while in his Leaving Cert year, Marcus died tragically in a road traffic accident. A year later Maxie died following an illness.
Strength
Irish Country Living meets Meghann after she has finished co-presenting Spin South West’s breakfast show Fully Charged.
The subject of Meghann’s new book is emotive, but while speaking tenderly about her lost loved ones, she also exudes positivity and strength.
The author hopes that people going through a grieving process will find solace in the relatability of her story.
“A lot of my relationships and friendships were affected by my grief and I pushed an awful lot of people away,” says Meghann honestly.
“It’s to let people know that they aren’t alone on this journey.
I find when you are going through grief, it feels like the loneliest existence ever, but in actual fact we are all going to go through it at some stage in our lives.
"No one is alone and there are other people who have gone through grief, are going through grief and will go through grief.”
Coming through
Having fought her battles and now out the other side, Meghann is bright and bubbly.
She is a successful radio presenter and well-known personality in the southwest and west. However, that wasn’t always the case and there was plenty of hard work behind Meghann getting to where she is today.
After completing her undergrad in Gaeilge and New Media at the University of Limerick (UL), Meghann went on to do a master’s in Journalism at NUI Galway (NUIG) and then spent a year interning at MTV in London.
At the time, the Galway girl knew she did not want to stay in London long-term, but planned to build up her CV and come back home to get a job.
“When I got back to Ireland, I was applying for jobs and no one was getting back to me,” she says.
“Anyone who did get back to me, they were like: ‘You have got so much experience in different areas, this is brilliant.’
But no one was actually giving me a job and I found this disheartening.
Meghann admits that she toyed with the idea of packing it all in, but this Limerick lady is nothing if not determined and after some encouragement from her mother, she went on to land her current job at Spin South West.
Mum
Speaking to Meghann, it is extremely clear that she has a very close relationship with her mum.
After the interview she is heading to Dublin for a couple of nights but before that her mother is coming down from Galway to see her (the new motorway is a blessing).
When her parents separated in 1995, Meghann, Marcus and their mum moved from Dublin to An Spidéal.
It was here she found her love for Gaeilge and to this day they still refer to An Spidéal as their “spiritual home”.
After a number of years in An Spidéal, Meghann’s mum wanted to move closer to her own parents, so it was off to the family farm in Ardrahan, much to 10-year-old Meghann’s delight.
I was always with my uncle Peter, he runs the farm. I’d say I nearly annoyed him because I would see him going for his jacket and I would be up off the seat.
"He always brought me out to do the sheep and the cattle. It didn’t matter what the weather was like, I was out there with him.”
Initially it was animal-loving Meghann who wanted to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and become a vet, while her brother Marcus shied away from it, having had a bad fall off a horse as a child.
In time, however, both had a change of heart.
“I witnessed a caesarean section on a cow and I was like: ‘Right, I’m not able for this.’ I just watched the whole process and I think I went green.
“During transition year, Marcus had to go on work experience and he said one day, sure he would go with the vet and see how he got on,” says Meghann with a smile.
“On his first day, I think he TB tested 300 cattle and he rang mum that evening and said: ‘I want to be a vet, that’s it.’”
Before the accident, Marcus had sat his mock Leaving Cert exams. His family got the results and it looked like he was on track to get veterinary.
Irish Country Living rings Meghann a few days after the interview to double check some details.
It turns out that day is Marcus’s birthday and also the day Broken Love goes to print. Meghann and her mother are going for dinner to mark the occasion.
This Galway girl and Limerick lady will never forget where she came from as she shoots for the stars.
Broken Love is available online at www.bookhubpublishing.com and at Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway.
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