An American discovered love at an Irish matchmaking pageant – and hopes others do too

He did not go away it at that, although; Mangan discovered Timby on Instagram and adopted up with a message inviting her out.

“It was quick and candy, and it was actually real, too,” says Timby – and she or he took him up on the supply.

What adopted was a collection of whirlwind dates – lunches, dinners, sightseeing and purchasing journeys. Timby prolonged her time in Ireland and documented a lot of it for her newfound following – however she did not reveal something about her new beau. They wished to avoid wasting the burgeoning romance for themselves.

When Timby ultimately needed to fly house, there have been “tears on the airport” – however they determined to maintain the connection going.

“It was very powerful to say goodbye,” Timby says. “It was very powerful to begin a long-distance relationship, but it surely ended up being a extremely good alternative for us to kind of gradual issues down a bit.”

They stored speaking day by day, Mangan impatiently ready for Timby to get up seven hours behind him in Colorado. She flew again to Ireland once more, then he made his first journey to America for Thanksgiving 2025. Timby returned to Ireland at Christmas and met his household, and after that, they determined to make her boyfriend’s huge social media reveal.

“We thought, that is one thing we already know we need to put money into… we have been able to share,” Timby says. “So New Year’s Eve, we shared a photograph of him, and other people have been simply over-the-moon excited.”

The pair watched their following develop, drawing curiosity from Irish cafes and vacationer locations to the native Gaelic sports activities membership in Colorado. Their story additionally caught the eye of Lisdoonvarna locals, who approached Timby – a communications advisor – about being an envoy for the pageant.

“So I mentioned: Sign me up,” Timby laughs. “I like the pageant. It introduced me Jay.”