The PDs may not have much election success but Deputy Noel Grealish proved he wasn’t ‘shuck’ by the experience at the Galway International Oyster Festival press reception on Monday. 

After some training from oyster opening champions, Michael Moran and Micheál Kelly, the competition began with Jimmy Norman going in the 7/4 favourite. The tension mounted as the celebrities battled to open as many oysters as they could and when the finishing bell rang, it was clear that it would be a close race to the finish. The final tally showed that although he may have been fearless when climbing Mount Everest, Ian McKeever was certainly no dab hand at opening oysters, with a only a single oyster opened after the allocated time. Model Glenda Gilson didn’t fare much better with only three, while Jimmy Norman finished in third place with a grand total of seven.

Then it was down to the last three, with TD Noel Grealish, Gareth O Callaghan and Gráinne McMahon left in the mix. After careful deliberation, Gráinne was awarded third place with eight oysters opened, being beaten by her colleague Gareth O Callaghan by just one.

So Carnmore native Noel Grealish was crowned Oyster Champion with an impressive tally of 11 oysters in one minute. He was presented with a cut glass trophy and an apple iPod. The evening finished on a high note with the announcement that all sponsors were going to increase their donations to €9,000 for the worthy charities.

“I am absolutely delighted, especially coming in as the underdog! It was great fun and the camaraderie between the contestants was brilliant. But the most important thing is that we raised money for some great charities,” he said.

The rest of the contestants were already coming up with some creative excuses including Grainne Mc Mahon who called for a rematch saying that the men had an unfair advantage with their ‘big hands’ and Ian McKeever who used a typical man’s excuse and said he ‘just couldn’t find the G spot!’

Speaking to the Galway Independent, model Glenda said she found the task harder than she expected.

“It is very tough. I found the first three easy enough but they were all different sizes and my hands got a bit sore! But I still got three opened and, sure, I beat Ian!”

No stranger to Galway, Glenda said that she hopes to return the city when the festival gets underway later in September.