Cavan well represented in the live TV shows in Tralee

Sadly Cavan's Roses didn't get through to this week's live TV shows, the county will still have representatives interviewed by Daithi O'Se on RTE. 

The Yorkshire Rose, Aisling McArdle, hails from Kingscourt and will hit our screens tonight. Stay up late to cheer her on as she is the second last of the Roses to be interviewed. Also taking to the stage in the Dome tonight - first up - is the South Carolina Rose, Ellerslie McCue. The 19-year-old student proudly traces her heritage back to County Cavan and Antrim. 

Tomorrow night it's the turn of Western Canada Rose to have her 15 minutes of fame as, Sinead McGahern, whose father Pat hails from Callanagh, Mullahoran will take to the Tralee stage and perform her party piece in front of a television audience of over 1.7million people. There'll be slim odds for Cavan getting a good few mentions over the two nights.

Our own Cavan Rose Paul McPartland will continue to enjoy the celebrations, despite not making it through to the last 32. 

“I was a little bit disappointed in the moment as everybody was,' said Paula, 'but we have been doing that many fabulous things and going to so many different events, nothing has really changed. We are still carrying on as 64 Roses – we arrived here as 64 and we will be leaving a 64 Roses. 

'At the end of the day after Tuesday night, there will only be one representative for us all. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time and it is not something that is bothering me too muchâ€.

Sinead McGahern representing Western Canada told The Anglo-Celt that she graduated with a Civil Engineering Degree from Dalhousie University in Hallifax, Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada, and works with an Environmental Structural Company.

“I have always wanted to be a Rose ever since I watched it on RTE when I was visiting my family in Mullahoran growing up,' said Sinead. 'Somehow I always arrived in August.â€

Sinead visited her uncles in the Mullahoran area over the years and her favourite town in Cavan is Ballinagh. 

“I have really good memories of going to the shops in Ballinagh – there were no ice cream cones in Mullahoran and I really loved the cones with the flake in Ballinagh and my Uncle Thomas used to take me in there nearly every day, because he knew how much I loved the cones.â€

For her party piece in the Dome, Sinead McGahern will be doing an Irish dance – a treble reel in hard shoes.

“Tralee is everything and more than I had imagined,' she enthused. 'It has really been an unbelievable experience. If I won the Rose of Tralee, it would mean the world to me!â€