All of Ireland, including composer Phil Coulter and Paul Byrom, are expressing their pride to have one of their own as a crowned winner of the American singing and acting competition, “The Glee Project”.

Paul Byrom, former Celtic Thunder member, took to his blog to congratulate his old band mate by saying: "Damian showed from the first day I met him that he was a very hard worker and extremely professional. Damian will do very well and I trust he will continue to be the gentleman he has grown up to be on and off the set."
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Coutler, who first discovered Damian years ago and placed him in the sensational Celtic Thunder group, took to Twitter to express his joy that Damian McGinty was selected as one of the winners of the competition.

The Derry Journal reported that Coutler, who first discovered Damian years ago, ‘tweeted’: “Well done Damian! Brilliant. I still remember his demo CD arriving on my desk way before C.T. [Celtic Thunder] Knew he was going places but WOW. So proud of him.”

The talented young man was selected from a pool of 40,000 participants and was chosen to enter the competition through a simple, yet delightful YouTube video.

Both producers and audiences fell in love with Damian and he has garnered an entire new wave of followers since his days with the band Celtic Thunder, which Coulter created.

Coulter took a then teenage Damian along with the rest of C.T. around the world and they had much success releasing six albums and having millions of fans around the world. Coutler gave Damian a boost and it is now America’s turn to get a taste of what Coutler’s young protégée has to give.

The winning Irish star will next be seen on the big screen when he is featured in seven episodes of Glee’s season three, which was part of his final prize.