Love conquers all, including a pandemic!

Love blossoms, even when you're 6,000km apart. At least that has been the experience of one Nenagh woman who replied 'yes' when her boyfriend proposed to her from the other side of the Earth.
Dubliner Bobby Murphy refused to let the coronavirus pandemic get in the way of his marriage proposal by choosing a very novel way to pop the question to his now bride to be, Nessa Moloney who hails from Monsea in Ballycommon.
Bobby used the group video app Zoom to propose to Nessa, while her family watched on remotely.
Bobby, who works for Consulting and Enterprise IT company Aspira, is currently working in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Nessa is a Lieutenant Commander in the Irish Naval Service, based more than 6,000km away in Haulbowline, Co Cork.
"I have been in Abu Dhabi since October 2018, but we meet many times during the year," explained Bobby.
"I wanted to marry Nessa, but I wanted to ask her parents' blessing first. Face-to-face, in Ireland. Preferably last Easter weekend. But the world shut down and we all had to stay home and stay safe."
Bobby made a Zoom call to Nessa’s parents, retired school teachers Liam and Deirdre asking for their blessing, which was duly granted. The aspiring groom then moved on to the next stage of his proposal plan.
"A few days later, it was the weekly family table quiz, which we use Zoom for. Nessa and I were going to be the quizmasters. So I did a picture quiz and figured I would just slot in another question."
That question, on screen, was "Nessa would you marry me?"
Nessa, who was watching online at Naval Headquarters, replied "Yes Bobby, I will!"
Reflecting on Bobby's proposal, she said: "I’m very, very happy. It was lovely to have all the family there and you could see everybody was really excited, as are extended family and friends as the news has spread."
The couple has not been able to set a wedding date yet, due to the ongoing uncertainty around travel and Covid-19.
They are not even sure when they will be able to celebrate their engagement together.
"We don’t know when that will be, but Zoom is definitely helping with being apart. We talk or video call every day," Bobby said.
Love conquers all, it seems, even in a global pandemic.