Shane Quigley Murphy has revealed he’s dating fellow Fair City star Connie Doona.
The actor, who plays Gareth Boyle in the Irish soap, struck up a secret romance with his co-star last summer.
The actress is best known for playing Zoe Allen on the Carrigstown cobbles.
Shane told The Irish Sun: “We met on the show and we didn’t tell anyone. I had a break in filming around the same time as we started seeing each other.
“So we had a very fortunate three months to almost speed up that early stage of getting to know each other so we went from meeting each other as friends from there and it just blossomed.”
Their colleagues eventually found out about their relationship, and Shane said “everyone was so overwhelmingly positive.”
“Connie is such a wonderful soul,” he gushed. “Connie is a great actor and a hard worker, and smart and conscientious but also kind; doing little things like remembering birthdays and bringing in cards and chocolates for people she hadn’t seen in a while.”
“So when they (the cast) saw we paired up, everyone was so overwhelmingly positive. But you don’t want to push it down people’s throats but everyone has been happy for us. I think the cast reacted really well.”
Shane, who is currently appearing on RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars, continued: “We have been seeing each other seven or eight months now but it feels like I have known her all my life.
“I count myself as fortunate because coming out of other relationships and coming through struggles in our own lives to find someone like that it’s a blessing.”
“We both came out of long relationships and it was one of those things, we were meeting as friends initially, as peers, on a similar level both as human beings and as artists.”
“Having goals that aligned and what I have with her is a beautiful bond. We get on as human beings. She is my best friend.”
Shane, who is partnered with Laura Nolan on DWTS, also said Connie isn’t worried about him falling for the infamous ‘Strictly curse’.
“Connie is Laura Nolan’s number one fan,” he said. “What’s really great about working or being in a relationship with someone in the industry is they understand.
“They don’t get caught up in the thing, ‘Oh my God, you’re dancing with another woman’ or you’re simulating these romantic scenes because they know that world.”
