JOY OF CHRISTMAS: Tipperary girl Sophie's magical Late Late Toy Show dream comes true

When young Mullinahone girl Sophie Quirke was ushered to Dublin on Friday night to make the end of the Toy Show it was her dream to come true.

Sophie, 8, is daughter of Martina and Roger Quirke, who went with her to Dublin for turned out to be a magical evening.

Following the appearance on the Toy Show, Sophie’s mother, Martina, said this week that their feet had touched the ground with the amount of people coming up to them.

She described the experience as “absolutely incredible”.

Martina explained how Sophie’s star turn came about, saying that when she was diagnosed with leukaemia last year aged seven herself and Sophie’s dad, Roger, decided to give her as many memorable moments as possible.

“We wanted to create enough light to drown out the darkness,” she said.

Martina said that they asked Sophie if she would like to audition for the Toy Show and out of 4,000 children initially called she got into the final 80 and the producers wanted to meet her in Dublin.

“We went to Dublin and she did a 10-minute audition and she said it went great. She’d talk all day and they said they loved her, that she lit up the room,” said Martina.

The producers had never tried springing a surprise appearance before, but they reckoned Sophie was the one to pull it off.

Martina revealed that Sophie had no rehearsal time for her guest slot.

“Originally they wanted to just turn up at our house; then they asked how long it would take to get from our house to Dublin and they then rented a private cinema where she could watch the show.

“We had to tell her she didn’t make it and she was devastated but they were putting on a private screening. The other kids probably thought: ‘What are we doing here?’ but then at 10.20pm the doors opened and the cameras came in. It was the most amazing thing ever,” said Martina.

“Patrick Kielty was such a lovely man,” said Martina. “His voice broke when he was presenting Sophie with her trip to Orlando. I guess he found it emotional as he has an eight-year-old child himself.”

Martina described the trip to Disney as “the cherry on top of the cherry”.

“We were so grateful to get a shot at being on the Toy Show. Then there was the cinema, the bus, the red carpet and then the trip,” she said.

Family friend Cllr Kevin O’Meara said that the Quirke family was an integral part of the local community, involved in sports and the local school.

“Sophie’s dad, Roger, completed the Dublin Marathon and raised €9,000 for Aoibheann Pink Tie as a thank you for the support they have received,” he said.

Cllr O’Meara recalled that, this time last year, Sophie was playing with his own daughter on the local U8 football team.

“A beautiful bubbly child, she has shown incredible strength over the last year in difficult times. She thoroughly deserved her night in the spotlight and the celebrity status that came with it in school on Monday morning,” he said.

Late Late Toy Show host Patrick Kielty told how Sophie “really grabbed our attention” during the Toy Show auditions.

He added: “It was mainly because she said that her one and only dream was to come and see us at the Toy Show which sounds simple, but it wasn’t as straightforward for her as she was in hospital a lot this year.”

Sophie brought with her a toy unicorn named Uni - who she said is eight and has leukaemia - who looked a bit worn before Sophie explained: “Uni doesn’t have as much fur as him (another toy), in the shops they have loads of fur but all hers got off because I hug her so much.”

Sophie unpacked a small suitcase of Minnie Mouse ears, dolls from Disney’s Encanto and Wish before Patrick Kielty revealed she was going to head to Disneyland in Orlando, Florida.

“We’d love to make another one of your wishes come true,” he told her, adding he was “delighted” to get her and her family to Disney.