Beoga may have just hit the mainstream in recent weeks after scoring a number one single with Ed Sheeran, but the band has been on the scene for over a decade.

“We’ve been at it together for 14 years or so but this is the kind of break you really hope you’d get. We’ve been slogging away for long enough,” says Eamon Murray, who plays bodhrán for the band.

The five-piece band, based in Co Antrim, consists of Eamon, Seán Óg Graham (button accordion and guitar), Damian McKee (button accordion), Niamh Dunne (vocals and fiddle) and Liam Bradley (piano and keys). Their work has earned them critical acclaim across the world, including being shortlisted for a Grammy nomination for best contemporary world music album in 2010.

Beoga – which is Irish for lively – may be known for playing traditional Irish music, but Eamon is slow to describe their sound as typical trad.

“What we are and what we have always been is a niche sort of a band, because we play Irish music and that is not something you are likely to hear if you turn on the radio,” says Eamon.

“I wouldn’t even say that it’s trad – it’s progressive Irish music. Most of our music is new compositions but they would be in the form of jigs. It’s kind of modernising what the perception of Irish music would be,” he says.

“The songs that we are doing with Ed are pop songs but (our collaborations) gives them a flavour that is instantly recognisable, that Irish session vibe. I think that is one of our greatest assets as a nation. It’s often overlooked and we take it for granted.”

The collaboration with Ed Sheeran came about through fellow Irish musician, Foy Vance, who is signed to Sheeran’s label.

“They were on tour together and they were playing each other some stuff. Foy played a couple of our tracks and said: ‘I think you’ll like this.’ And it just went from there. Ed asked if we would be up for it and we said of course,” says Eamon. “To work with someone of Ed’s size who loves Irish music and wants to shed a light on it … it’s great for the genre.”

The result was the hit single Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan, which Ed wrote for his grandmother.

“We played on four or five tracks and two made the album. One of those was the Galway Girl, which just came out of us hanging out and playing music. It wasn’t high pressure. Ed is really easy-going and sincere and a good musician,” says Eamon.

The band hopes that Sheeran’s popularity will give Irish music a boost in our own country and that younger people will develop an interest.

“If Ed Sheeran thinks it’s cool, it must be. That’s what we have been trying to do as a band – trying to bring something to the younger audience because we feel like it’s relevant to them and it can be modernised. It doesn’t have to be the dusty, old man music,” says Eamon.

“It’s great to highlight all the good things coming out of young people in Ireland because there is a lot of it. Irish radio has a responsibility, too. Look at what happens in France where they play a minimal percentage of their own artists. There should be a balance of that … maybe we would start to see the rise of our own talents.”

Beoga is now looking forward to performing at Kilkenny Tradfest on Thursday 16 March

“It’s one of our favourite gigs in Ireland so we’re looking forward to it. We have a good few around the country over the next few months too,” says Eamon. “I have high hopes for it all,” he adds. “We’ll just keep slogging away, playing gigs and doing what we do.”