My Loves: Ten confessions of a lifelong Westlife fan

How am I supposed to leave you when you're looking like that?

1. I am 37 and I still have a poster of Shane Filan tucked away inside an old diary. It was ripped out from Smash Hits and I liked his brown eyes and baby blue geansaí. It has survived SEVEN house moves. 2. Cian Egan is one of only two celebrities I’ve ever asked for a photo (the other was Take That). It was at a Voice of Ireland filming at The Helix and the flash didn’t go on my camera, so it came out almost black and I was devo. I still posted it on social, obviously. In fact, I'm going to Share It All Over Again... 3. I know some of the ‘dance moves’ from the Uptown Girl video. And I use them. 4. I have read both the official Westlife autobiography, Our Story, and Shane Filan’s My Side of Life. 5. A journalist friend once texted me from a pub at 2am to say he was with Westlife and I should come down and meet them. I didn’t go because my hair wasn’t washed. Clearly not an Uptown Girl. 6. I was in the same Billie Barry class as Brian McFadden and remember the day he was picked to go to the Westlife audition. I have told that story. A lot. 7. I bought the Seasons In The Sun CD single even though I already had the album. I used to try to claim artistic credibility for Westlife on the strength of that Jacques Brel cover. This was somewhat ruined by the fact that their version of I Have A Dream was the other track of the double A-side. 8. In college, I used to pump a friend from Sligo for information on Shane’s then-girlfriend-now-wife. That's how we stalked people before social media came about. 9. I sobbed in a pub in Australia because My Love was playing and it made me homesick. There may have been drink taken. 10. I was in a corporate box with a free bar for Westlife’s farewell gig at Croke Park and don’t remember ANY of the gig. There was definitely drink taken.