After an “absolutely breath-taking” couple of weeks, newly crowned Rose of Tralee Elysha Brennan plans to spend the next few days at home with family and friends. The Co Meath woman said she is overwhelmed with the win and needs to figure out what her next steps will be.

If she’d been fat, now, that would have been real news. But there won’t be a fat Rose, writes Victoria White

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Meath Rose Elysha Brennan has been crowned this year’s Rose of Tralee after a whirlwind festival of poems, party pieces and all the parades a town could handle.

After a bizarre night of dung-spitting, science experiments, and Dáithí Ó Sé playing dress-up, the country is waiting with baited breath to find out what else the Rose of Tralee could possibly have in store.

Kerry Rose Julett Culloty brushed tears from her cheeks yesterday as she told how she had been diagnosed with cancer just over a year ago.