Well, being a regional band, you must have regional arts papers, or at least entertainment weeklies, right?

I just got my first actual CD review & interview in such a paper. I've been reviewing other folks' Cd's there for a couple of years. Another musician reviewed mine. We all scratch each others' backs.
I have found it very worthwhile to take an interest, publically, in other peoples' music (In fact, the most interesting thing is seeing how we deal with each others' deficiencies--the typical review is positive but not bubbly).   

Since a common format is the "entertainment weekly", its a good time to get a review in if you give them an event to cover as well. But you know that.

To get national distribution (why stop there? there's a country just north of yours that is very sympathetic to Irish music), I think you need...a national distributor. Nothing unrealistic about it if you can impress Rounder, Green Linnet or one of that ilk.

Good luck
W-O