Mick Lally: Movies & Box Office

Michael "Mick" Lally was born on 10 November 1945 in the Gaeltacht village of Tourmakeady, County Mayo, the eldest of eight children to May and Tommy Lally. He attended the local national school before moving to St Mary's College, Galway, and later studied history and Irish at University College Galway, where he distinguished himself by winning the British and Irish inter‑varsities boxing championship and performing with the student drama society. After graduating, Lally spent six years (1969‑1975) teaching at Archbishop McHale College in Tuam, but his passion for the stage pulled him away, and he left the classroom to join the national Irish‑language theatre Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, quickly becoming a founding member of the Druid Theatre Company. His early stage work earned him an Irish Times/ESB Theatre Award nomination for Best Actor in The Dead School, and he later appeared with the Field Day Theatre Company in the debut of Brian Friel’s Translations in 1980.

Lally’s screen career took off when he starred in the TV movie The Ballroom of Romance (1982) alongside Brenda Fricker, and he became a household name from 1983 onward as farmer Miley Byrne in RTÉ’s beloved soap Glenroe, a role that had earned him a Jacob’s Award for his earlier work on Bracken in 1979. He also achieved musical fame when “The By‑road to Glenroe” topped the Irish charts in 1990 and lent his voice to memorable ads, such as the Kilmeaden Cheese commercial. Lally’s film résumé includes The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), Circle of Friends (1995), The Secret of Kells (2009) where he voiced Brother Aidan, and a cameo in Alexander (2004). A fluent Irish speaker, he continued to appear in Irish‑language productions, notably the soap Ros na Rún (2008). Married to nurse Peige Ní Chonghaile in 1979, he was a devoted father of three and a vocal supporter of socialist causes. Lally died on 31 August 2010 after a battle with emphysema, leaving behind a legacy celebrated by audiences, peers, and Irish cultural figures alike.