Who is Nancy Lehane? Meet the Cork Rose tipped for Rose of Tralee success

Cork Rose Nancy Lehane, once a yearly viewer of the festival, now finds herself centre stage in Tralee

Cork Rose Nancy Lehane during a visit to the Hunt Museum in Limerick. Pictures: Domnick Walsh

For as long as she can remember, Nancy Lehane has joined a group of about 12 cousins every year to  watch the Rose of Tralee.

It’s a family tradition dating back more than 10 years, where she travels to Waterford to join them to watch the selection nights.

This year, however, the 22-year-old has good reason to break with tradition.

Her first cousins are instead travelling to Tralee to watch her as she vies for this year’s title.

Whether or not she wins isn’t something she has thought too much about, although the bookies have her down as the favourite so far.

Indeed, even taking part in the contest in the first place isn’t something she had ever wanted to do.

“We all get together every year and we watch the selection nights,” she said.

“We’ve been doing that since we were children. It’s usually a group of about 12 or 13 of us first cousins, although some of them are abroad this year.

“I never looked at the screen, watched those amazing women over the years, and thought about being one of them one day.

“I don’t think any of us in the group of cousins have ever had that kind of conversation.”

The Cork Rose Nancy Lehane and the Ottawa Rose Aidan Russell at Bird's funfair during the Rose of Tralee International Festival. Pictures: Domnick Walsh

Quite how she ended up entering the competition to be the Cork Rose happened as a result of a “whim”.

“I was chatting to my boyfriend after an advert popped up on his phone about becoming an escort for the show, and I suggested he should do it for the craic,” she added.

“He didn’t want to do it and I was just joking around with him, trying to persuade him to do it, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Then he sort of said to me that if I wanted him to do it so badly, why didn’t I be a Rose?

I just thought: ‘Do you know what? I will.’ So it was on a whim, I suppose you could say.

She said she was shocked to be chosen as the Cork Rose at a contest on June 1, but residents of the small North Cork village where she comes from have been rooting for her ever since.

Large posters of her adorn every route in or out of Meelin, where she grew up with her five brothers and parents, Denis and Anne Marie.

The family are heavily involved in local events, especially annual fundraising for causes such as Cancer Connect, the transport service for people undergoing cancer treatment.

Nancy, who also plays football for St Peter’s, won a Cork North Garda Youth Award in 2017 for her community volunteering and fundraising.

As well as their community spirit, her parents encouraged Nancy to get into music from an early age.

She started at five with the concertina and graduated over the years to guitar.

She started teaching music from the age of 14 to both children and adults.

As well as being a gifted musician, she is also a talented singer.

Cork Rose Nancy Lehane pictured on a visit to the Hunt Museum in Limerick. Pictures: Domnick Walsh

A former student at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, she is also a former student at Boherbue Comprehensive School.

She recently completed her degree in primary education in Limerick, and says being a teacher was always a dream job for her.

Regularly heard singing at Mass on Sundays in her local church, there are those who believe that, if she sings on selection night, she will attract the interest of a record company.

“Or if she doesn’t, there is no justice in the world,” said Pat O’Callaghan, who owns and runs Quinlan’s Bar in Meelin with his wife Breda.

“She is a very talented musician and, as well as being able to play lots of different instruments, she has this beautiful voice.

“People will be blown away when they hear her sing, if she decides to sing.”

While he will be screening the show live in the village’s only bar, three minibuses of supporters will be travelling to Tralee after Lehane’s selection night on Monday night to see the final on Tuesday

Most will be heading to Turner’s Bar, as it has been designated as the Cork Rose’s supporters’ bar, while family and close friends will be heading to the town’s MTU’s Kerry Sports Arena.

There, hosts Dáithí Ó Sé and Kathryn Thomas will present the Rose of Tralee Selection Nights live on TV on Monday and Tuesday night.

Whether she wins or not, Lehane is unfazed. She said that she “hasn’t really thought that far ahead”.

I don’t see it as a competition at all, I just see it as an adventure and a bit of craic.

“I also see it as a celebration of women’s identity and, for me personally, it is a great opportunity to grow in confidence and to celebrate our culture as Irish women.

“I never expected to get anywhere when I applied to be the Cork Rose, so I am just enjoying every minute of it for what it is,” Lehane added.

While she sees it as another of life’s learning curves, she had one last year when she worked as a volunteer teacher in Uganda for three weeks.

“It was an unbelievable experience, and it taught me how much we as a country could learn from Ugandans,” she said.

“So many of them have so little, and yet they would give you the shirt off their own back without as much as a bat of an eyelid.

“I found so many people who were happy with so little ‘things’ or material possessions.

“We have a lot of things in Ireland, and it was a real eye-opener about how you can have so much more in life with less.”