{"id":8038,"date":"2025-08-18T22:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T22:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/8038\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T22:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T22:17:09","slug":"being-yourself-will-get-you-far-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/8038\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Being yourself will get you far enough\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will be case of \u2018last one out, turn off the lights\u2019 in the North Cork village of Meelin when all roads will lead to Tralee to support \u2018our Nancy.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what people are calling me and it\u2019s so lovely to have that backing and support!\u201d said Cork Rose, Nancy Lehane.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old primary school teacher is currently mid-way through the Rose Tour, which sees the Rose contestants from all over the globe travel around the country, meeting and greeting, before hitting Tralee.<\/p>\n

The televised interviews, with D\u00e1ith\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9 and Kathryn Thomas take place on Monday and Tuesday, but Nancy hasn\u2019t even looked that far ahead yet, taking it all step by step and savouring each moment as it happens.<\/p>\n

She knows what she\u2019s wearing for her dome appearance (but is sworn to secrecy and will not reveal a single detail of her gown) and as an accomplished musician who sings at weddings, communions and gigs, she is pretty sure she\u2019ll perform a song as her \u2018party piece\u2019 \u2013 but she doesn\u2019t know what yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m humming and hawing over a few and think it will just dawn on me last minute, which to go with!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"NancyNancy has attended a host of events in the lead up to the festival including the Killarney and Galway races, and the Cork Summer Show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s typical of Nancy, who is intent on taking the experience in her stride.<\/p>\n

Since she was announced as Cork Rose in early June, she\u2019s embraced every opportunity that\u2019s come her way \u2013 and created plenty of her own.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve pretty much been flat out since becoming Cork Rose, with something Rose-related almost every other day. It\u2019s been great,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

She visited schools before the holidays, nursing homes, hospitals, private house visits, Charleville Show and Cork Show, to name just a few.<\/p>\n

And more recently Nancy got to meet some of the other contestants at Killarney and Galway races and said everyone is already \u201cgelling brilliantly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queensland Rose has Meelin ancestry so we\u2019ll have that in common! The feedback in every place has just been unbelievable. Everyone is just so genuinely excited for me, especially in Meelin where I\u2019m being referred to as \u2018our Nancy!\u2019 My community means a lot to me, so to have that support feels incredible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"NancyNancy said that having the support of her community \u2018feels incredible\u2019.<\/p>\n

In fact her high point, so far, was the homecoming in Meelin after she won Cork Rose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually got quite emotional when I saw the crowds of people who were there to congratulate me. It can be hard to see it yourself when you\u2019re caught up in it, but when you can see everyone else being so excited, you begin to appreciate what an achievement it really is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nancy had originally hoped her boyfriend, from Clare, might enter as an escort in the world-famous competition. It was only when he declined that she said she\u2019d give applying to be a Rose a go herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still not sorry he didn\u2019t enter,\u201d she laughed, adding that of course he\u2019ll be there to support her in the dome, along with her family (she is second eldest, and has four brothers.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a busy month for Nancy.<\/p>\n

\"NancyNancy Lehane after she was named as the Cork Rose.\tPicture: Cork Rose of Tralee Facebook<\/p>\n

Besides the Rose of Tralee festival, she\u2019ll be playing championship football with St Peter\u2019s club and will be back at school in her role as a special education teacher in Newmarket NS.<\/p>\n

Again, she\u2019s totally unfazed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, of course I\u2019m going to be nervous when it comes to the on-stage interview, that\u2019s only normal! But really, what I want to get across is that I\u2019d have never, ever thought that I could be in a position like this. I don\u2019t know why, but that\u2019s how I felt. Now I want to show other young people that being yourself will get you far enough \u2013 after all, it\u2019s got me this far!<\/p>\n

\n \u201cKindness is also important and will always come back to you which I can see with the support of my community.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole place, everyone, kids and adults, are on a pure high and it\u2019s nice to know I can do that! I don\u2019t think there\u2019ll be anyone left in the village next week!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rose of Tralee International Festival<\/p>\n

The 2025 Rose of Tralee Rose Tour kicked off last Sunday week as the 32 International Roses came together for the first time in The Royal County, Meath. Other stops on the itinerary included Limerick and Kerry.<\/p>\n

During the Tour, the 32 women visit local communities, iconic heritage sites, and participate in a series of cultural events.<\/p>\n

\"D\u00e1ith\u00edD\u00e1ith\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9 with Meath Rose Ella Bannon, Ottawa Rose Rachel Hoare, Cork Rose Nancy Lehane and Washington D.C. Rose Soracha McGrath.\u00a0<\/p>\n

D\u00e1ith\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9 and Kathryn Thomas take over MTU\u2019s Kerry Sports Arena to present the Rose of Tralee Selection Nights live on TV this August 18 and 19, with the 2025 Rose of Tralee being named on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Cork Rose, Nancy, was tipped as the early favourite to win the competition with bookies.<\/p>\n

A number of other women with links to Cork are also taking part in the event.<\/p>\n

Aisling Guilfoyle, who will be representing Luxembourg, has ties to the Rebel County, as do the Philadelphia Rose, Shannon Emery, and Queensland Rose, Siobh\u00e1n Edwards.<\/p>\n

Four of the 32 escorts chosen to accompany the Roses at the festival hail from Cork.<\/p>\n

It can be hard to see it yourself when you\u2019re caught up in it, but when you can see everyone else being so excited, you begin to appreciate what an achievement it really is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be case of \u2018last one out, turn off the lights\u2019 in the North Cork village of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,8073],"class_list":{"0":"post-8038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-wow"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}