ROSE OF TRALEE 2014

The new Rose of Tralee 2014 is the gorgeous Philadelphia Rose Maria Walsh. She won the 56th annual crown Tuesday night, at the conclusion of a two-night event in the Tralee Dome in Kerry. Born in the USA (Boston), Maria moved to Ireland in 1994 with her family and returned to the USA in 2011, where she lives in Philadelphia and works for fashion firm Anthropologie. And regarding her work, as Fiachra Ó Cionnaith of the Irish Examiner writes:

Stunning new Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh has already captured the hearts of the nation and her adopted home in Philadelphia, but that doesn’t mean everyone is jumping for joy about her success.

Speaking in the picturesque rose garden in the centre of Tralee town hours after a nail-biting finale, she admitted the sudden career change for the next 12 months may be slightly difficult to explain to her boss.

After leaving to take part in “this crazy Irish contest” (her words not ours, we swear) the 27-year-old’s manager at Philadelphia-based fashion firm Anthropologie gave her his blessing. 

We love it when Queens make the front page!

The contest is a perennial ratings winner for RTÉ One, with a peak-minute audience of 760,300 viewers for the Tuesday's finale and an average of 694,000 viewers across both nights. The contest was also streamed live and is available on demand on www.rte.ie/player. It is a must-watch - the uniqueness of the contest itself, the wonderful winner, and of course, the hubba-hubba host Dáithí Ó Sé.