McGahern hails Longford and Cavan public in bid for Dancing With The Stars glory

The Gowna funnyman accumulated one of the highest scores on last Sunday's latest round dance routines, securing a more than creditable 24 points.

Kevin, who, by his own admission, took time to find his feet in front of the nation's cameras, is more than content with how his progress is gathering momentum.

“I got my first eight from the judges on Sunday, so it's onwards and upwards.”

The star of Republic of Telly and the voice behind “it could be you” on RTE's National Lottery commercals is hoping that mantra rubs off on him when returning to the dance floor this weekend.

“I suppose the target I had was to get to Dedication Week which was last weekend, but when I made it this far, you want to go as far as you can,” he said. “I will be giving it my all and putting everything I have into it.”

That sense of resolve came after a pep talk from his professional dance partner, Laura Nolan. “I was kind of overthinking my steps and about things going wrong.”

“Laura sat me down and just told me to relax and enjoy myself and Sunday night was the first time I really enjoyed myself.”

His eye catching performance with dance partner Laura Nolan to Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit was aimed at one of his biggest supporters. “I got the chance to dance to a song I have loved since I was 14-years-old and it was all for Wallis, my two year old daughter who I knew would be sitting at home cheering me on,” he said.

Those endeavours have, however, come at somewhat of a cost with Kevin revealing he was nursing a couple of knocks, one of which saw the stand up comedian go over on his ankle in rehersals.

It's a burden, nonetheless, Kevin is more than willing to pay as he continues to impress the judges and voting public at home.

“You are dancing five days a week which has got me in good shape,” he added, as he thanked the broader Cavan, and Longford public for their continued support, and in particular the Gowna, Dromard and Moyne areas, the latter of which his wife Siobhan is a native of.

“I've never been a huge athlete despite my father's (Sean's) best wishes.

“My parents kind of figured out that football wasn't for me at an early enough stage and it was a case of doing something else.”

That something else has seen Kevin not just carve out a name for himself on the national artistic stage, but also brought him to the brink of Dancing With The Stars immortality.