Aoife is 2008 Rose of Tralee

The stunning Tipperary Rose Aoife Kelly has been chosen as the 2008 Rose of Tralee. 23-year-old Aoife was the bookies favourite and the first ever woman to represent County Tipperary in the Rose of Tralee Finals. Aoife is an Occupational Therapist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Ireland working in the spinal injury service. For the next twelve months she will be Tralee's and Ireland's global ambassador. She was chosen from among 31 Irish and international contestants each of whom would be worthy winners, according to the judging panel. 

Aoife was crowned with the Newbridge Silverware Tiara by Lisa Murtagh, the popular 2007 Rose, in front of a packed Festival Dome and the largest TV viewing audience of the year in Ireland. Later she was paraded by the horse-drawn Ballyseedy Garden Centre float through the streets of Tralee to the stage at the Ashe Memorial Hall where she was serenaded to the melody of the "Rose of Tralee" and presented with the keys of a Volvo C60 car.  In her first official function as Rose she launched the Midnight Madness Fireworks Display which lit up the sky over Tralee at the beginning of an historic year in the life of the world famous festival.

Courtesy Domnick Walsh