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.

Maria Walsh made history yesterday, becoming the first ever Rose of Tralee to parachute into the annual festival.

FOR Kerry GAA fans, despite the success of this year’s Rose of Tralee, the festival is still threatening to become a nightmare.

ROSE of Tralee bosses last night judged the festival a roaring success after taking a gamble on switching the spectacular to a new home.

A NUMBER of key traffic issues will have to be resolved in Tralee before a €30 million project goes to the planning stage, it emerged yesterday.