Honeymooners return to festival 50 years later

THEY celebrated their honeymoon by watching the crowning of the first Rose of Tralee, and now 50 years later the MacMahons are back for a joint golden anniversary.

Terry MacMahon and his wife Eveleen have been watching the action in the Dome for the past two nights to mark their 50-year-long marriage, thanks to the generosity of the organisers.

Terry, 78, originally from Tralee and living in Dublin, said: “Eveleen wrote and told them that we were celebrating our 50th anniversary and they have looked after us and gave us the tickets.

“I really enjoyed it – the amount of work that goes into it is amazing.”

When Terry and Eveleen celebrated their honeymoon half a century ago they saw Alice O’Sullivan named as the first Rose of Tralee, and by his own estimate they have been back at least 25 times since, but picking a winner doesn’t get any easier.

“The Cork girl [Amy Moran-McGirr] was so relaxed, she really was enjoying herself,” he said.

Like pretty much everyone else, he was also charmed by Germany Rose Jessica Kreuz, whose quirky personality led to a flood of bets on her yesterday.

“She was very funny,” Terry said. “It would be hard to pick a winner.”

Terry joined the gardaí in 1953 and lives in Kimmage.

His memories of the first festival in 1959 centre around donkey derbies – “absolutely hilarious” – and terrier racing, as well as Alice O’Sullivan being crowned in the Ashe Memorial Hall.

Four children, 11 grandchildren and 50 years later, the pull of the festival is still hard to resist, he said.

“You never know, please God, next year we’ll be back.”