Ailísh Conneely of the Aisling Irish Community Center | Episode 81

Ailísh Conneely is the Cultural Development Officer at the Aisling Irish Community Center in Yonkers, NY. Ailísh has been teaching the Irish language to members of the Irish American Baseball Society in our virtual Irish language classes.

Ailísh was born in New York and grew up in Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny. She is a musician and multi-instrumentalist, specialising mostly in piano accordion, piano, flute and tin whistle. She is also a fluent Irish speaker. When she was growing up, she competed in the Fleadh Cheoil at provincial and All-Ireland level, winning the Leinster Fleadh U18 and O18 Piano Accordion and receiving 2nd place in Leinster U18 Tin Whistle. She also has a Diploma from the London College of Music (Dip LCM) in traditional flute performance and a Grade 6 in classical piano with the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM). She studied Music and Irish in University College Cork (UCC) until 2018, and completed a Professional Masters in Education (PME) with Hibernia College Dublin in 2020, qualifying as a secondary school teacher. She then taught Irish in a school in Waterford for 2 years, while also being involved with two local Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann branches (CCÉ).