Déise delight as Kirsten crowned Rose of Tralee
at the Waterford Rose Kirsten Mate Maher was last night crowned the winner of the 2018 Rose of Tralee Festival Dome in Tralee, Co Kerry. Photo: Steve Humphreys.
SHE was one of the red hot favourites from the get-go and Kirsten Mate Maher was crowned the 2018 Rose of Tralee last night. The Dome in the Kingdom was lit up with the Roses’ reels, poems and songs on the final night of the festival, but there could be only one winner.
Waterford Rose Kirsten (21) wowed the crowds on Monday with her rendition of ‘Feeling Good’ and it was enough to win over the judges.
The delighted winner said: “I’m sorr y, I’m speechless. I just want to say a thank you to all the girls in front of me and behind me.”
The boutique worker is the first African-Irish winner.
She was hoping to study in Waterford IT in September but confessed she might be clicking the defer button on her course now.
“I couldn’t have picked a winner out of tonight and I certainly didn’t expect it to be me,” she said when she was asked about pipping Carlow Rose to the title.
Surprise
While the first night of the show was jam-packed with quirky mom ents, the festival concluded with fewer highjinks – although colourful US TV presenter Jerr y Springer did make a surprise appearance in a pre-recorded message to Cork Rose Érinn O’Connell.
Many of the final 14 Roses opted to sing for their party piece, and Germany Rose Giulia Kearney was worried that her voice wouldn’t hold up.
“I’m actually singing but as you can hear my voice is leaving me. So I have had to drink a lot of water and tea today and see what happens,” she explained.
In one of the sweeter moments of the night, the 98-year-old grandmother of London Rose Gráinne
Hawkes was crowned an honorary Rose.
Waterford’s Kirsten had been one of the front-runners with the bookies, along with Carlow Rose Shauna Ray Lacey, and Chicago Rose Katie Callahan.
The Chicago Rose revealed she was a volunteer in the Dome last year, but warned host Dáithí Ó Sé not to rest on his laurels.
Katie joked: “I’d like to take your job, Dáithí!”
While there were many moments of laughter, Mayo Rose Rachel Gibbons also opened up about her mental health battle on stage.
“Rock bottom for me was not talking to anyone, going out drinking, not caring about myself,” said the 24-year-old, who hopes to be an accountant.
“Thankfully, I have the most supportive family down there – I don’t think I would not only be here but even be alive if it wasn’t for them.”
She quickly lightened the mood by sharing her close encounter with the local postman at her house, where “curtains and blinds don’t get used too of ten”. “The postman pulled right up to the window, seeing me as naked as the day I was born,” she revealed.
And Detective Dáithí struggled to figure out if Rachel had or hadn’t ‘shif ted’ one of the escorts, as Rachel cr yptically announced: “Talk to me tomorrow and we will see!”
Last year’s winner, Dr Jennifer Byrne, said she believed the festival had showed it was a brilliant platform for starting a national discussion.
On the first night of the live broadcast, Carlow Rose Shauna Ray Lacey bravely spoke about her parents’ battle with heroin addiction.
“I think ever yone will agree with me that the Rose of Tralee has moved to a whole new level, last night [Monday] there was things represented that probably weren’t previously,” Jennifer said.
“I think Shauna is a fabulous lady and so are all the girls that were up there, they all represented something dif ferent.”