Robbie Henshaw and family to record with Sharon Shannon

Around Christmas, for the last twenty years, members of the Henshaw family have arrived at the Three Jolly Pigeons pub, between Glasson and Tang, for a traditional music session.

From a young age Robbie Henshaw was among the group, playing the fiddle or accordion in a way that showed his talents were not confined to the rugby pitch.

Now Robbie and his family are preparing to write a new chapter in that story, as they intend to spend some time in the pub recording a CD with Sharon Shannon to help raise money for the South Westmeath Hospice.

There are provisional plans for the 'Robbie Henshaw, Sharon Shannon, and Friends' album to be made in September, according to the rugby star's Dad, Tony.

Pop musician Bressie has offered free use of his recording studio in Dublin for the project, and it's thought that some of the CD will be recorded there and some of it will be captured in the Three Jolly Pigeons.

"It could make €1,000, or it could make €100,000. You just don't know," said Tony. "But the more the merrier, and everything that's raised will be going straight to the Hospice."

Newstalk's Off The Ball sports programme recently recorded around two hours of video footage of Robbie, his uncle Davy, his grandfather Billy, and his sisters Katie, Ali, and Emily at a trad session in the pub with Sharon Shannon.

A five-minute package from that gathering was shared online by the Off The Ball programme and at the time of writing it had been viewed close to 100,000 times.

In the clip, the Henshaws talk about their family's long association with music.

Robbie said there were times when he'd be more nervous about playing music than about playing in a big game!

"Obviously we've a big family and music kept us close to our cousins as well," said Robbie. "Any time we'd meet up we'd have sessions... it kept us all together, I suppose, and all in Athlone."

Seamus McCormack of the Three Jolly Pigeons said there had been a "very positive" reaction to the video, which had already brought some new visitors to his pub.

Seamus said the idea of the CD recorded by the Henshaws was something that had been discussed for a while now and he was hopeful that it would raise "as much money as possible" for the Hospice.

The name of the CD and other details have not been finalised at this stage but it's hoped it will be ready to be launched around October of this year.

You can watch the video of Sharon Shannon, Robbie and other members of the Henshaw family in the Three Jolly Pigeons here: