The friendship between Sinead O'Connor and legendary songwriter Kris Kristofferson goes way back.

The kindly Kristofferson first took a tearful Sinead under his wing like a father figure when she was booed off the stage by an angry crowd at a Bob Dylan anniversary tribute show in New York's Madison Square Garden in 1992.

Now Sinead, who married Irish-Australian musician Steve Cooney a few weeks ago, will finally get a chance to catch up with the Texas country music singer during his tour, which reaches Dublin's Olympia Theatre tonight for a three-night run.

It's rumored O'Connor is likely to appear on stage with him as a special guest on at least one of the shows. An insider revealed: 'They're looking at performing 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' at the Olympia.'

Soon after they originally met, O'Connor controversially tore up a picture of the Pope on live TV in the US and refused to go on stage at another American venue with the Stars and Stripes flag over the stage.

Now Kristofferson has written a song about the incident called Sister Sinead, which is on his current album Closer To The Bone. Sample lyrics: 'I'm singing this song for my sister Sinead/Concerning the God-awful mess that she made/When she told them her truth just as hard as she could/Her message profoundly was misunderstood.'

The pair fell out of touch through the years, connecting mostly by phone, and now Kristofferson has asked a friend in Dublin to arrange the fully-fledged reunion with O'Connor, who is now on husband number three.

Now 74, Kristofferson says he is looking forward to performing in Ireland, where he has always been given a warm welcome. He revealed: 'Johnny Cash also loved playing Ireland. It's a great country for singer/songwriters, and they've always loved poets and drunks as well! It probably is my favorite place on the planet.'