Knockananna's Sarah Murray Takes First Dates Ireland By Storm

Wicklow woman Sarah wows the crowd as she prepares for her appearance on First Dates Ireland

A Wicklow woman is taking her search for love to national television.

Sarah Murray from Knockananna, swaps the world of modern “situationships” for a more traditional approach, appearing on RTÉ2’s First Dates tomorrow night.

Sarah, a crèche worker, hopes to meet her ideal match—a GAA-loving, wellies-wearing farmer type.

On the show, she connects with Peter, a 21-year-old agricultural science student from Donegal, and the pair hit it off immediately.

Sharing her thoughts ahead of the episode, Sarah said:

“My niece applied for me… just a bit of craic. Dating in general is very hard. I thought it was time to try something new.”

You can catch Sarah’s episode of First Dates at 9.30pm on RTÉ2 tomorrow night.

Sarah has explained to The Morning Show on East Coast FM to Declan Meehan that she was somewhat shocked to find herself anywhere near the show as she explained.

..'''So it actually wasn't my idea, it was my niece who applied for me without me knowing. My niece, she's not much younger than me and I was saying to her this time last year that I'd love to go on it, but I never in a million years would have actually applied for myself and then I didn't know until they contacted me a while later and I genuinely thought someone was messing with me. But sure look, here we are now anyway!''

First Dates Ireland - Wicklow's Sarah and her 'date' Peter

In fact, as she added, despite the exhaustive process of application, she avoided the worst of that process.

''I didn't fill it out, but I think it is like a long kind of questionnaire, like just about yourself, like what you're looking for and like I think it is a big process, like especially after like they do a lot of phone calls with you and stuff like that and like they do match you well in fairness, I think like I don't think it will be an easy job for them. I presume they get thousands of applications, if not more, but they do go into so much detail to ask everything about yourself, your interests, what you're looking for in a partner, so like they do cover everything.  Yeah, and did you find what you're looking for? Can you say something? I suppose, like they matched me well anyway.''

Once she got there, she enjoyed her experience at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin.

''Yeah, no, it was good craic, like I actually loved it, like the cameras and the interviews and the microphones. Like I wouldn't usually be wanting to put myself out there like that at all, but I did really enjoy it. Like it was mad, but like in a good way.''

She will tune in tonight despite her embarrassment:

''No, I will watch it, but I am kind of dreading watching it at the same time. I am looking forward to it, but I do think everyone's going to have an opinion, really. I'm just not used to seeing or hearing myself on the telly. And I think hearing your own voice back is bad enough, never mind seeing yourself on a day on national telly.''

It's hard to find a good man these days according to Sarah....

''Like trying to find a good man is nearly a full time job in itself nowadays. And then the day it's not like, oh, don't even get me started on that.  I've given them a good old go on fairness, but it's the same old crack with them all.''