Fionna all set for Tralee

Gamble on another win for Mayo

Ger Flanagan

DESPITE being tipped as one of the favourites to win this year’s Rose of Tralee, Ballinrobe’s Fionna McDarby has her feet firmly on the ground.
The odds on another Mayo winner of the pageant tumbled this week from 10/1 to 5/1 and now Fionna is joint favourite with the Cork Rose Denise Collins, to follow in the footsteps of 2014 winner Maria Walsh.
Speaking to The Mayo News before she embarks on the Rose Tour, the 25 year-old Health Psychologist and Assistant Psychologist, who is based in Dublin, said she is looking forward to meeting the other 64 roses next week.
With a jam-packed schedule of events organised ahead of the main events in Tralee, Fionna is busy preparing outfits, hats and all that goes along with being a rose and said she will be meeting up with 2014 Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh before the week kicks off.
“I’m meeting Maria to hear from her about her own experience of it and to see what it’s like. I’ve met a lot of the Irish Roses and we have a Whatsapp group with all of them. You can imagine having 65 people in one group message, you leave the phone for a day and you could return to 1,000 messages,” she laughs.

Format change
The change in format of the Rose of Tralee this year means that all 65 roses will go to Tralee and take part in all of the events such as the Rose Ball and parade, before the group is whittled down to 32 who will take the stage for the live broadcast in the Dome on August 22 and 23.
This year Fionna and the group have the added pressure of being followed by a camera crew, for a TV documentary ‘Road to the Dome’.
No stranger to TV cameras, earlier this year Fionna appeared on RTÉ’s Operation Transformation for her research into childhood obesity and the way in which children are targeted by big brand corporations such as Coca Cola.
Over thirty of Fionna’s family and friends will be making the journey to Tralee to support her, with many more set to come down and support her if she makes it to the stage.
Asked about her favourable odds for taking the crown, Fionna joked that ‘Mayo might have a gambling problem’.
“I’m very aware that nobody has met me yet, we haven’t even started the tour. At the same time, when you hear things like that [odds] you do feel a little bit of responsibility to pull up your socks, but I don’t pass much heed to it,” she said.
Highlights from her year as Mayo Rose so far are getting to speak with US Vice President Joe Biden and the support she has received from people.
“After winning, people were so nice and people in town have been so great with sponsorship and support. To win and have all that support has been great.”