County Leitrim will be represented by Sinead Flynn from Ballinamore in the Regional Finals of this year’s Rose of Tralee competition after the 22-year-old took the title of Leitrim Rose at The Bush Hotel on Sunday evening.

County Leitrim will be represented by Sinead Flynn from Ballinamore in the Regional Finals of this year’s Rose of Tralee competition after the 22-year-old took the title of Leitrim Rose at The Bush Hotel on Sunday evening.

Sinead will travel to Portlaoise at the end of this month where she will go up against fellow qualifiers from each Rose Centre in the hope of progressing to the last 32, and to the Rose of Tralee Festival itself which takes place in County Kerry on the second weekend of August.

Sinead was chosen ahead of seven other contestants from across the county by a panel of three judges.

The panel included James Duignan, who was the escort for the Longford Rose last year; Lavinia Keely, from roseoftralee.ie and Mohill based milliner and fashionista Jennifer Wrynne.

Over 200 people attended the event which took place at The Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon. Mother of one Sinead, who works in Allure Hair and Beauty, Ballinamore was one of the first three contestants to apply to the competition.

The event almost did not go ahead due to a shortage of contestants, but following both local and national media attention last week, eight participants took part in Sunday’s event.

There was further good news for the county this week as organisers confirmed that the International Rose of Tralee Tour will again visit Lough Rynn Castle Hotel in August.

Last year’s 32 Roses spent the night at the award-winning Mohill hotel as part of the tour’s first ever visit to County Leitrim. The Roses visited Arigna Mines before returning to the hotel where a gala ball took place.