Kildare man reaches ‘Countdown’ final

A musician from Kilcullen has made it through to this year’s finals of the long-running C4 game show ‘Countdown’.

Ian Kinsella (43) is known as an ‘octo-champ’ on the iconic show after he won eight games in a row between 8 April and 17 April, and has qualified as third seed for this year’s finals, which will be held in the week up this Friday, 26 June.

His impressive run saw him total 812 points, scoring over 100 points on three occasions, and saw him dig out three nine-pointers – detouring, romanised, and senhorita – along the way.

Though now living fulltime in Dublin and gigging with De Dannan, Ian grew up in Kilcullen, and graduated from the Cross and Passion in 2000.

Ian began playing music when he was just 11, initially learning from his banjo-playing dad Jackie, who himself played with Dolly Parton on his way.

Ian originally trained and worked as a primary school teacher before choosing fulltime music, a fate that saw him tour the world with a ‘Who’s Who’ and the trad and Celtic scene.

In 2021 he was invited to the World Expo in Dubai in association with the National Concert Hall to represent the nation’s finest musicians, and later that year played in front of 50,000 at Electric Picnic alongside Gavin James.