Watch: Heartwarming moment Taylor Swift stops to hug young Cork fan mid-concert

It was a magical moment this Cork child will never forget – getting invited to meet her idol Taylor Swift mid-concert all while she was singing her favourite song.

Eight-year-old Clara O’Sullivan from Ladysbridge was already having the ‘best day ever’ when she entered the Aviva Stadium with mom Stephanie, her aunt Jess and cousins Laura and Isabelle on June 30. The young girl was gifted Taylor Swift tickets for her Holy Communion – and her family were determined to make the concert and big trip to Dublin a special day she’d never forget.

But none of them expected Clara would get a special invite to meet her idol face-to-face mid-concert – and this stunning new video gives an amazing close-up of exactly when it happened.

Clara was lucky enough to be picked out by a member of the Taylor team and was invited to move past security to the front of the stage. She said she barely knew what was happening until the artist started singing her favourite song, 22, before skipping down the runway to meet her.

The video, captured by Tom Donohoe, shows the pop star then moving away from the dance team and kneeling down to give the young Rebel a hug. The 8-year-old was beyond star-struck, but seized the moment to take off one of her friendship bracelets – made specially for the event – and pass it onto to Taylor, who screams: “I love it!”

In return, Swift then hands over her own signed Eras Tour hat, before sharing a few quick words with the fan and slipping in another hug. The pair high-five, and the pop star sings another few lines close-up for Clara, before she steps away and rejoins her dance crew for the rest of the song.

From there, the young child was guided back to her family so she could enjoy the rest of the gig – clearly overwhelmed, but still managing to belt out every song until the concert’s end.

Describing the experience, Clara said: “So we were dancing our heads off and after a song – Love Story – I just got chosen and I had no clue what was happening, everyone was screaming and then I got the hat,” she told PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96FM Opinion Line.

Clara plans to wear the hat every day – ignoring suggestions to put it in a glass display case, saying she plans to wear the hat about town so she can show all of her friends.

While the hat from the Dublin gig will remain a proud treasure in the O’Sullivan family home, other stops of the Eras tour have seen people take advantage of their lucky selection by trying to sell the hats online.

One family in New Jersey posted the hat their child received online with an asking price of $20,000 – plus $5.95 shipping of course – with a promise that all the money would be going to their child’s college fund. The listing has since disappeared following backlash and it’s unknown if they kept the hat or if it was sold privately.