They lined the streets in the rain to welcome their Rose home

People lined the street of Killucan in the lashing rain last Thursday evening to welcome home the Westmeath Rose, Grace O’Connor, from her spellbinding performance on the world stage at this year’s Rose of Tralee festival.

Witty, wise, caring and good craic best describe the beautiful Grace, whose recital of a poem she wrote in memory of her brother Ryan brought the audience at the Dome and across the globe to tears.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner on Friday, Grace said she was overwhelmed by the turnout in her native Killucan. “It was totally unexpected,” she said. “They were lining the streets in the lashing rain and I hopped out to big hugs from everyone.”

Grace had been on tour with the Roses for the week leading up to the festival. “The whole experience was amazing,” she said. “Going into it, I had no idea what to expect and it was so much better than I could have imagined. We were treated like princesses for the week.”

“Before it, I hadn’t even really watched the Rose of Tralee,” Grace confessed, but she would recommend it to any aspiring Roses. “You learn a lot about yourself,” she said, adding that the whole experience has given her confidence.

Grace works with the Muíriosa Foundation in Mullingar, supporting individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities, and their families. “They have been great since I was selected as the Westmeath Rose last April,” she said.

Entering the competition started as a joke shared by her and her beloved brother Ryan, who died by suicide last December. “We put in the first application, giving basic details, and then Ryan died two days before Christmas. I had to have the rest of the information in by January. At first I felt, ‘no, I don’t want to do it’, and then, one evening, I decided that in years to come I will be kicking myself if I don’t go ahead,” she said.

Grace did not tell any of her family or friends, not even her boyfriend Robbie, that she had entered, but as the selection night approached, she thought she had better inform them. “It was a shock to the system to actually win the Westmeath Rose title, but it has been great and it has kept me so busy, it kept me going,” she said.

After reciting her poem in memory of Ryan, Grace said everyone told her she was great, but that she had made them cry. “That was my one thing before going on stage, not to cry, and I didn’t, but when I came off stage all the girls were in tears,” she laughed.

Grace’s boyfriend Robbie Healy, her parents Willie and Deirdre, her brother James, sister Ciara and her partner Claudio, and her niece Leila, were in the Dome to support her. “Ciara is due a baby next week and everyone was saying to her ‘you better not pop in the Dome’. I could see Ciara and Jimbo crying in each other’s arms as I was reciting the poem,” Grace said.

She thanked her family for their support all along the journey, and Robbie who has been “my rock the last year with all that has been going on”.

Fame has not gone to Grace’s head though. When asked what was next on the agenda, she said she was off to unpack, clean the house which “is like a bomb hit it”, and take a nap.