Mayo woman all set to represent Sydney in the Rose of Tralee

Westport native Ashling Heneghan is set to compete in the annual Rose of Tralee festival later this month after being crowned the Sydney Rose.

The Carrabaun woman, who has lived in Sydney for just over a year, will wear the Sydney sash at the prestigious festival beginning on August 16 after being crowned the best of 12 competitors.

Speaking to The Mayo News this week, Ms Heneghan said she was ‘overwhelmed with excitement’ when she was chosen as the Sydney Rose.

“I couldn't believe it. ‘Why have they chosen me?’ But I'm really looking forward to everything now. Our whole family and myself are just beyond ourselves with excitement. We can't wait to get down to Tralee and have lots of craic and make lots of nice, fun memories and have something to talk about for years to come,” she explained.

The speech and language therapist decided to enter the contest because ‘you get to surround yourself by women that are worldly, and kind, and are quite prestigious in all their various areas’.

“I also wanted to have some fun memories and a bit of craic to tell my future nieces,” she added.

_{Ms Heneghan outside Thomas Moran's shop in Westport town, where she worked for nine years (photo: @sydneyroseoftralee on Instagram)}

All the eras of Ashling

The former NHS worker is the daughter of Frank and Stephanie Heneghan and is a past student of Scoil Phádraig girl's school, Sacred Heart Secondary School in Westport. She also holds a degree from Trinity College, Dublin.

With just over a week to go until the annual festival commences, Ms Heneghan reflected on the ‘really enjoyable experience’.

“I've had the opportunity to meet Irish people from a range of ages, from young right up to the old that have settled in Sydney or have been there for short periods, and you get to have lots of craic and have lots of chats with lots of very interesting and kind people,” she said.

She continued: “The Rose of Tralee is one of those very prestigious events that everybody knows about growing up. We went down to Tralee when I was about eleven or twelve, and we followed the Roses around, and we got their autographs.”

Ms Heneghan said she thought she had ‘gone beyond’ the festival, but changed her mind and decided to enter when she went to Sydney.

“I think it was a really nice place to enter, as my brother had spent some time there and my niece was born there, and now I've got my life there. So that was really exciting.”

Living among a large Irish community in Sydney, Ms Heneghan was quickly surrounded by friends from Ireland and Australia and her boyfriend, Andrew Davison, after being crowned Sydney Rose.

Ms Heneghan previously told The Mayo News: “It was actually really nice because I had a bit of a mix of friends. I had friends from home and Westport and some friends from university and some friends I made here over in Australia and my boyfriend is from where I lived in the UK [Newcastle] so I kind of felt like I had all the eras of Ashling sitting around the table,” she said.

No place like home

Now, on the final stretch of preparation before the festivities begin, the Rose is ‘delighted’ to be home in the west of Ireland.

“It's absolutely brilliant to be home. I'm absolutely delighted to be going around the town [of Westport] and I'm really proud to be from such a beautiful community here in Westport that really support me. They're getting behind me. I'm getting lots of hellos and waves and photos with everybody, and yeah, it's just brilliant to be from such a great town,” commented the Sydney Rose.

_{Ms Heneghan outside the PortWest store in Westport town (photo: @sydneyroseoftralee on Instagram)}

Being a Rose is not a journey you can endure alone, and the Carrbaun native is ‘extremely grateful’ to local businesses for their support and sponsorship, as well as to her own friends and family.

Her old sports club, Westport Camogie Club, took to Facebook to wish the 28-year-old luck in the competition.

The club wrote: “Westport Camogie Club extends its best wishes to Sydney Rose and Westport native Ashling Heneghan, ahead of this year's Rose of Tralee International Festival. Ashling was a valuable member of our Junior Camogie panel during its revival in 2020.”

Ms Heneghan said: “I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all the people of Westport and Mayo that have supported me on this journey and sponsored me.

“Jack Dylan’s, Boutique Collette, PortWest, Thomas Moran’s, Carraig Donn, Ashford Castle and then over in Castlebar, Parsons and Vaughan's. They've been all brilliant and been very generous and very kind. Thank you very much,” she concluded.

The Rose of Tralee festival will be televised on RTÉ one on August 19 and 20 from 8pm.

You can keep up with Ms Heneghan’s festival lead up on the Sydney Rose Instagram page.