Have you got the spark to be Monaghan’s next Rose?

The selection process is underway for the Monaghan Rose for this year’s Rose of Tralee contest with the call going out to prospective Farney Roses to register. To mark the launch, the 2025 International Rose of Tralee, Katelyn Cummins (21) from Co Laois, was in Monaghan Town and she spoke to VERONICA CORR about the Rose and her Dancing with the Stars experience...

While she may have swapped her work boots for dancing shoes, the 2025 Rose of Tralee, Katelyn Cummins, an electrician by trade, is loving life and highlighting the many opportunities her Rose experience has brought her.

She was in the Four Seasons Hotel last Friday night, January 16, for the 2026 Monaghan Rose selection launch and information evening where she encouraged other young women to go for it, because she had no regrets.

Katelyn is an inspiration to girls who are thinking of entering traditionally male-dominated industries: “I’m an apprentice electrician. I got the call for Dancing with the Stars on September 22nd. I was working up until then. I knew that I’d have to move to Dublin for that. So, I decided to take a year out and my work complied with me very well and were supportive.

“I’m taking a pause for the year, I’m so busy with the Rose, Dancing with the Stars and everything in between.”

Katelyn started her day in a five-hour dance rehearsal. She thanked Rose of Tralee organisers, adding that she could manage her own diary. She tries to say yes to invitations where possible.

With friends in every county of Ireland now, Katelyn makes a point of calling on them when she’s in their neck of the woods. Her Rose sisters hail from all over the globe. Katelyn’s schedule remains hectic as the selection process kicks off to find her successor.

Although life has been busy since she became the 2025 Rose of Tralee, Katelyn said: “It’s been amazing so far. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve done so many things I never thought I’d ever do in my life. I’ve met people I didn’t think I’d ever be friends with or ever communicate with. It’s been a whirlwind and I’m loving every second of it.”

Her advice to future contestants and escorts is: “Just be yourself down there. It makes it easier to get to know you and that’s what I did. Never change. Be completely yourself the whole way through. They want someone who is natural.”

She encouraged young women who are interested, to apply highlighting the friends you make and the opportunities that can come your way. “I’m very grateful to my dad for pushing me to put in my application. I didn’t think it was going to be the right time of my life to put myself forward for it, but he said: ‘Sure, do it for a bit of craic,’ and here we are!”

The Monaghan Rose 2024 Anne-Marie McArdle from Carrickmacross is nearing the end of her term as the local Rose and the teacher joked that she sleeps with the sash on every night! But on a more serious note, she will cherish happy memories from the whole experience. She felt lucky to get two years as the Monaghan Rose, reflecting on opportunities, the places she’d seen and the friends she made.

Anne-Marie was delighted to promote Monaghan and support worthy causes worldwide. On a personal level, it helped her to become more confident. She looks forward to her return visit to Tralee in August. Travelling to Chicago for St Patrick’s Day and walking the Camino for Cliona’s Foundation were two of the highlights of her Monaghan Rose journey.

Getting involved in the Rose ensures that you have friends for life. It is a sisterhood, a family. Sonia Casey, the 2014 Monaghan Rose, who is now Monaghan Rose Centre Co-ordinator, met her husband Seán Flanagan through the Rose of Tralee network.

“He was an escort in 2011; I met him at a regional festival. He was back for a reunion with the 2011 gang. I had a little dance with him that night. Then met him again at a Rose Ball. We got engaged two years later. We got married in 2017. Three kids later, my eldest wants to be a Rose Bud this year.”

A Rose Bud is paired with a Rose and becomes a mini ambassador for the festival.

Sonia has met thousands of people through her Rose journey, which is ongoing. She runs the centre ably assisted by Roses like Anne-Marie. As Sonia prepares to oversee the Monaghan Rose selection process again and take a weeklong trip to Tralee for the festival, Seán will be on “Daddy Duty!”

There are lots of meetups in advance of the selection and Sonia encouraged applicants to come along, because it breaks the ice. There are three judges (former Roses and Rose Escorts), involved in the selection of the Monaghan Rose. On selection day, applicants will have informal chats about their applications with judges and group sessions too, ahead of the night on stage with Northern Sound broadcaster and long-time Monaghan Rose Selection host Seán McCaffrey, who was there on Friday night to meet some of the potential contestants.

“The Monaghan Rose Selection is on Saturday, April 18, in the Four Seasons Hotel. We’ll be starting to do meet ups from March... It’s all about the girls getting to know each other. Once girls start applying, we encourage them to start looking at sponsorship and I support them with that,” Sonia explained.

Apply

Check out the Monaghan Rose Centre on Facebook or Instagram for details on how to apply. You can also go directly to www.roseoftralee.ie and fill in the application form. That is sent back to Sonia, who sends a WhatsApp to the local applicant.