Shrule’s Maria blooms on Late Late

Shrule’s Maria blooms on Late Late Show


Ciara Galvin

ROSE of Tralee Maria Walsh captured the nation’s hearts on Friday night when she was Ryan Tubridy’s first guest on the new season of The Late Late Show.
Still working as a Studio Manager for clothing and lifestyle brand Anthropologie, in Philadelphia, the rose made a flying visited on Friday last to appear on the show.
The Shrule-native endeared herself to the nation with her infectious warmth and honesty throughout the interview, which was reflected in the social media reaction to the interview. Glowing descriptions of the new rose included ‘stunning person both inside and out’ and ‘an amazing modern woman’.
The Boston-born and South Mayo reared Maria flew back to Philadelphia on Sunday following her whirlwind weekend in Ireland. It is understood she was back to work yesterday (Monday) after landing back on US soil.
In the interview, Maria, who is a pioneer and heavily involved in volunteer work, was asked by Tubridy about the ‘attention’ caused by the news that she was gay. Referring to the day the news was broken by a national newspaper, the good-humoured Maria replied, ‘You know on a Sunday what else is there to do, except come out’, which was met with much-applause from the audience.
Maria explained that she was aware of the article before it was released and said she has been ‘openly gay for two years’.
“If I could help one person for that article being in the newspapers or all those articles to be on the Monday newspapers and the news and Twitter, if I could even help one young person come out and deal with it in a positive way...then my year as Rose of Tralee has already been completed.”
Her proud family including father Vincent, mother Noreen, sister Eileen and brother Mikey were in the audience at Friday night’s show. Older brother Kevin who lives in Los Angeles made an appearance via a video clip showing his reaction to the moment his sister was announced as the 2014 Rose of Tralee.