Her name was Orla. Her photo showed a woman sitting in a rainy park, holding a bag of Tayto, wearing a lopsided scarf that looked remarkably like the one Cillian had made.
Cillian started with the big names. On Tinder , he matched with a girl who turned out to be his second cousin from Mayo. On Bumble , he waited forty-eight hours for a message that only said, "u look like my brother lol." Hinge was slightly better, until he went on a date with a "yoga enthusiast" who spent two hours explaining why the Spire in Dublin was actually a giant acupuncture needle for the earth. 100 Dating Sites In Ireland
"Try every site in Ireland. If you haven’t found ‘The One’ by the 100th, I’ll pay your rent for a month." So began the Great Irish Digital Odyssey. Her name was Orla
"There are millions of people in this country, Cillian," she’d said, nursing a pint. "You just need to cast a wider net." "How wide?" he’d challenged. On Tinder , he matched with a girl
As the rent-free month loomed closer, the sites got weirder. There was CrispConnect , where you matched based on your favorite flavor of Tayto (Cheese & Onion purists were surprisingly aggressive). There was RainyRomance , specifically for people who enjoyed walking in the "soft" Irish weather without an umbrella.
He bought a pair of wellies for a profile photo, only to realize "enjoys the outdoors" meant "willing to help birth a calf at 4:00 AM."
A site for knitting enthusiasts. He didn’t know how to knit, but he did leave with a very nice, albeit lopsided, scarf.
