Derry rose Darcy Taylor favourite to be crowned Rose of Tralee with Donegal’s Niamh Shevlin among front-runners
Derry Rose Darcy Taylor is currently favourite with two leading bookmakers to be crowned the Rose of Tralee.
The 25-year-old Bellaghy native is front-runner with both BoyleSports (11/4) and Paddy Power (5/2).
The Donegal rose Niamh Shevlin, from Glenswilly, who is one half of world champion Irish dancing duo the Shevlin twins, meanwhile, is also being hotly-tipped to take the laurels at the festival in the Dome in North Kerry on Tuesday night.
She is second favourite with Paddy Power (11/2) and fourth favourite with BoyleSports (13/2).
The festival gets under way on Friday with presenters Dáithí Ó’Sé and Kathryn Thomas welcoming 32 roses on stage who will bid to follow New York rose Roísín Wiley onto the winners’ roster.
Darcy is bidding to score a first ever victory for County Derry and is no stranger to the lights and cameras with a Masters in Broadcast Media and Production on her CV and experience working for BBC Radio Foyle.
Lawrence Lyons, spokesperson for BoyleSports, said: “With media experience on her resumé Derry girl and current favourite Darcy Taylor could be a natural on the big stage, but we’ll have a keen eye on Tipperary Rose Tara Brady as she’s been well supported in the past 24 hours.”
Ahead of the festivities Darcy said: “I'm really looking forward to meeting all the fantastic Roses and hearing their wonderful stories. My philosophy, which I encourage all young girls to follow, is in the words of the great Seamus Heaney: ‘We should keep our feet on the ground to signify nothing is beneath us, but we should always lift up our eyes to say nothing is beyond us’.”