New Rose of Tralee Rachel Duffy said being crowned the winner felt like ‘an out of body experience’ as she reflected on the emotional night.
The Westmeath native broke down in tears on Tuesday night when host Daithi O Se called out her name on the famous Dome stage.
Speaking after the win, Rachel, who has become the first ever Westmeath Rose of Tralee, admitted she was visibly shaking from the shock, but told how she felt her late mother’s presence with her the whole time.
Read More: Westmeath Rose Rachel Duffy crowned winner of the Rose of Tralee 2022
The 23-year-old said: “I don’t think there is a word to describe the feeling.
“Like I think it was Sinead [Flanagan, 2019 winner] who said she felt like she had an out of body experience and I kind of thought that is a good way to put it.
“I was just shaking, and I could feel people grabbing me, and all the girls holding me, and I just thought to myself, 'please don’t let go'.
“I spent the last two weeks with all of those women and it is bittersweet in a sense. I was delighted I won, but I just thought to myself, ‘oh my God’. I was one of many, and now I am just kind of one. And I'll be looking forward to seeing all of the girls again today.”
But she said there was one person on her mind the whole time - her late mother Cathy, who sadly passed away when she was just nine.
Holding back tears, Rachel said: “Absolutely, I nearly cry thinking about it. But she has definitely been with me the last two weeks.”
Rachel opened up about her mother’s untimely death and how she has dealt with the grief growing up during her on stage interview on Monday night’s show.
The student, from the village of Rosemount, told how she previously found it difficult to discuss her mother’s death.
Speaking from Tralee’s Town Park, at the famous Rose Walls, the morning after her win, she said she is hoping she can be a role model for others and help encourage others to open up about their own grief.
She explained: “I would have struggled a lot to talk about my mum growing up and I suppose I never had any friends I connect to in that sense of a parent passing away and I was nine when my mom passed away. And it is only when you put it into perspective now how young that was. I mean my Rose Bud Fiadh is nine. And I look at her and I think to myself ‘how did I go through that at that age and come so far?’
“And that’s why I think it is so important to talk about these things and just in terms of mental health and your wellbeing, it is just so important for people to be vulnerable in that sense and talk about these things.
“Because those thoughts and those feelings have to go somewhere. And it is only in the last few years I have become more comfortable talking about my mam, but definitely the more I talk about it the closer to her I feel.”
“Obviously as someone who grew up in a single parent home, especially without my mom, I always felt like I was lacking that strong female in my life and looked to other people for role models. I grew up in a time when social media was just coming to its peak and it was hard to find really good female role models and there was just a lot of pressure growing up.
“So if I could just be a role model to young girls, that is all I could ask for and I hope I can do the role justice.”
“I would have struggled a lot with my confidence in myself growing up and one of the main reasons I entered Westmeath was just to challenge myself and put myself out there a bit. I think covid I reverted a bit into myself like a lot of people, so I just took this opportunity to push myself.”
Watching on with pride at her first of many press conferences since the win, Rachel’s dad Eamon couldn’t hide his pride for his youngest daughter.
He told the Irish Daily Mirror: “I am overawed to be honest with you. I’m proud, and the whole thing is beyond belief. Rachel is a brilliant girl, and the youngest in the whole family, and always full of surprises and she has really pulled it out of the bag this time.
“But listen, I also have to admire the Rose committee, the whole thing has been so well organised and she has been treated like a princess and all of the 32 roses are all so close, like sisters, it is unbelievable really. I am on her coattails really, but she has been brilliant.”
“She’s had ups and downs along the way, as you know her mom passed away when she was nine, but she is really carrying the mantel now, for Westmeath and her parish and for the Rose of Tralee. I can only praise her.
“We lost a lot, but we have gained a bond, we are a unit, with her sister Lorraine and her brother Thomas, we are a unit and we have been through thick and thin,” he added.
“And we are getting well paid now for sticking together. And once Rachel has a good time, that is what it is all about.”
Rachel recently graduated from NUI Galway with a BA in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies and Spanish, and currently works in P. Egan’s Traditional Irish Bar in Moate.
And up until Tuesday night, she had planned to go back university next month to complete a masters degree to be a Spanish and English teacher.
Asked if these plans will be put on hold to embrace her new Rose role, she said: “I’m not sure, everything has happened so fast so I haven’t had a chance to properly sit down and think about it. A lot of time and effort went into me getting into my masters, and it has always been my dream as well. But the Rose of Tralee is also a dream. And I will just sit down with my family and discuss it and weigh up all of my options.
“But I’m not going to panic about it.”
“It’s been an amazing experience so far and I know it is only going to get better.”
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