Sandra Ganley all set to represent Mayo in Tralee

PROUD GRANNIES Mayo Rose of Tralee Sandra Ganley is pictured with her two proud grandmothers, Mary Fleming, Bohalis, Ballaghaderreen and Josie Ganley, Cloonmaul, Loughglynn.

Cory Kilbane

For this year’s Mayo Rose of Tralee, Sandra Ganley, it has been an amazing few months since she was chosen to represent the county at the world famous festival.
Representing Kilmovee Comhaltas, Sandra was crowned the Mayo Rose of Tralee at the Mayo Rose selection night held in Claremorris Town Hall back in late April.
Having toured the highways and byways of the county since her selection, the 25 year old heads to Tralee tomorrow (Wednesday) for the start of the festival and hopes to qualify for the televised stages, which start next Monday night.
Ever since she was a young girl, Sandra has dreamt of getting this opportunity, and now that it is here, she wants to do the county proud.
“It’s still surreal, it still hasn’t kicked in at all. I’m absolutely honoured to be representing Mayo and hopefully I’ll do everyone proud now,” Sandra told The Mayo News last week.
“When I was younger it was something I was always kind of doing. I was always entering competitions like it when I was a young girl. There is actually a picture of me when I was eight years old and I was dressed as the Rose of Tralee for Halloween,” she said.  
Although coming from the village of Ballaghaderreen, on the Mayo/Roscommon border, Sandra has proclaimed herself to be a ‘staunch Mayo GAA woman’.
“Obviously growing up on the border, there was always going to be controversy with the GAA. But I’ve always been Mayo, it’s never been any other way. I’d never miss a game. Andy Moran is a hero of ours, he’s Mayo through and through too.”

Music lover
Sandra comes from a country-music background and has always found herself with an interest in music and dancing.
“I was always interested in country music. My nanny would always have had me into it. I would have been listening to the likes of Big Tom and Declan Nerney growing up. Even in my teenage years, I was always going to country-music concerts. There used to be a stigma attached to country music, that it was for an older generation, but in the last four or five years it has become more accessible for the younger generation.
“I don’t go to discos or nightclubs or anything like that. I go to the dances. I go to the McWilliam (Hotel in Claremorris) and that kind of thing, to go and see bands and go dancing, that’s what I do,” she said.
After graduating from the University of Limerick with a bachelor’s degree in Irish Music and Dance, Sandra then furthered her studies and completed a master’s in primary school teaching.
Following her studies, she decided to set up her own dance school for children, calling it ‘Jiving Juniors’.
“We are a year-and-a-half into it now. It was setup in 2016 and in the first year I had 500 pupils going through. So we were flat out, absolutely crazy. I’m hitting ten counties at the moment and it’s the only social dancing school for kids in Ireland at the moment,” she said.
“Any amount of people were teaching adults and but I thought to myself, no one is teaching the kids. I said I’d give it a shot and thankfully it has worked out.
“I have been flat out since and I am now looking to hire staff in September. I actually can’t run it by myself anymore because it’s so busy so hopefully I’ll get a few staff in now,” she said.

Party piece
So, it’s no surprise that, all going well, she will be showcasing her dancing skills to the country on August 21/22, if she makes it through to the televised stages to be interview by Daithi Ó Se in the Dome, live on RTÉ television.
“I’ll be dancing on the night and we’ll leave it at that. It will be some kind of dancing, but I’m not revealing it in full just yet,” she said laughing.
Currently, there are 65 Roses remaining in the competition and Sandra has found herself making a lot of new friends.
“I have met a good few of the other Roses over the last few weeks. It’ll be great because we all kind of know each other before we get down there and it won’t be as nerve wrecking. As well as that we have a Whatsapp group, so you can imagine what over 60 girls in a group chat is like,” she added.
Since becoming the Mayo Rose, Sandra has found herself left with a hectic schedule, but she is enjoying it all.
“It’s been a brilliant experience. It’s great to be self-employed... because as a Rose, there is so much too it and it’s almost a full-time job when you’re on the roads as a Rose,” she said.
For Sandra, being the Mayo Rose has granted her with a lot of opportunities and she now finds herself meeting new people, and travelling to parts of the county that she has rarely got a chance to see.
“For me, the best part about being the Mayo Rose is getting to visit loads of different places I wouldn’t have otherwise seen. Mayo is such a big county, and I suppose for me to get to Achill or Belmullet, that’s a good hour-and-a-half drive. It’s been great to get the opportunity to travel around to these different places and have a chance to take them in,” she said.
“I’ve also got the opportunity to go in to visit the children’s ward in Mayo University Hospital, and some of the local nursing homes too, so that has meant a lot to me.
“I mean, it’s great getting dresses sponsored and getting freebies but it’s the meeting people and getting to visit places that is really the enjoyable part. That’s what I’ll remember the most,” she added.

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The festival starts this Wednesday, August 16, and will finish on Tuesday, August 22. Bookmakers Paddy Powers make Sandra the fifth favourite overall, at current odds of 14/1.