The Rose of Tralee festival isn’t just about the girls.
A well-known Laois man will be among the escorts at this year’s festival after being successful in the application process.
Eoin Delaney from Crettyard is looking forward to the world-renowned festival in August next month, where he’ll be among a group of young men who are there to help the rose contestants throughout the event, which goes on for more than a week.
Eoin is heavily involved in Crettyard GAA and Ladies Football and is a former special advisor to Minister Sean Fleming.
“My grandmother and mother are avid watchers of the Rose of Tralee every year on the telly and my mother noticed an advert seeking rose escorts for the festival,” explained Eoin.
“I hadn’t thought about it too much until I got talking to a previous rose escort, Pa O’Reilly (Snowy), from Crettyard, and Pa really sold it to me.
“He told me it would be an incredible experience, meeting people from all over Ireland and the world and making great friendships.
“I also got chatting to Paul Dargan from Graiguecullen, who was also a rose escort before. After talking to both lads, I said I’d give it a shot.”
“I applied online and a few months later I received an email to attend an interview in Tullamore. All the lads that were there for interviews were great craic and genuinely nice fellas. I got a phone call a few days later to say I had been selected as one of the 32 rose escorts.
“We had to source sponsors for the event and luckily Bill Delaney (Hollypark Construction Ltd) is my main sponsor and Martin Rice (Newhaven Kitchens) is sponsoring me with a tux for the event.
“And just like that, all my family were looking up dates for the festival. Airbnbs were being booked, tickets being bought and plans being made to head down to Tralee in August.”
Eoin explained that the escorts took part in a bootcamp in Dingle a couple of weeks ago, a sort of bonding session that included climbing Mount Brandon, running laps of the beach at Banna Strand and, of course, plenty of socialising.
“But it was well balanced out, we had a few whiskey tasting sessions and a pint or two as well.”
This year’s Rose of Tralee festival will be held from August 15 to 19.
The Laois Rose is Katelyn Cummins, from Ballyouskill, just across the Laois-Kilkenny border.
Katelyn is an apprentice electrician with Alpha Drives in Portlaoise.
