Dublin GAA stars Dean Rock and Niamh McEvoy announce engagement

Despite a year of heartbreak after Dublin failed to secure All-Ireland titles, the pair will be ending 2021 on a high note.

31-year-old Dean proposed to his footballer fiancée over the weekend during a romantic stay in Dublin’s 5-star Merrion Hotel.

Sharing the exciting news to his Instagram account, Dean shared a photo of the couple relaxing in their hotel suite as Niamh showed off her stunning ring.

“If she’s not too busy that day she said she will marry me. I’ll take that!!” he wrote as he tagged his wife-to-be in the post.

Friends and followers flocked to the comments section to congratulate the pair, with RTÉ’s Daithi O Se leading the well wishes by writing “Comhghairdeas” accompanied by some celebratory slapping emojis.

RTÉ sports presenter Jacqui Hurley gave the couple her best, saying: “Agh, amazing news!! Huge congrats guys!!”

And boxer Jason Quigley added “Congrats to the both of you, time to get planning now lad ha”

While fellow Dublin GAA player Philly McMahon chimed in: “Congrats to you both”

It comes after the couple decided to open up their coffee shop, Fancy That in Garristown, north Dublin, together earlier this year.

The café is so busy that Niamh even left her job as a teacher to concentrate full-time on the venture.

Dean said that the idea for the coffee shop grew when he moved back in with his parents in Garristown in January during the height of lockdown, when Niamh went to Australia to play Aussie Rules.

"When I was back living at home there was nowhere open and the nearest place you could get a coffee was in Ashbourne. I thought that Garristown would be a good location to open a place like that up, and it was near the local school," he recalled.

"So it was kind of one of those things where we didn't really know how it was going to go, but thankfully it has been doing great so far and people are enjoying it.

"Niamh would be more intrigued with coffee, having been in Melbourne where it's very popular, and she saw how it worked there," he says.

"She did a course in it and gained a lot of experience in it. Coffee became a big hit, especially during Covid.

"The people of Garristown and the surrounding areas have been very supportive; it's been brilliant," he added.