RTE viewers have predicted the "incredible" Rose Of Tralee contestant who will take the crown. The hit show returned last night with co-hosts Kathryn Thomas and Daithi O Se taking to the stage to welcome each Rose to the competition. On Monday and Tuesday, 32 Roses take to the Dome in Tralee in a bid to be crowned, The Rose of Tralee .
On Monday night, the first 18 Roses put their best foot forward, with women from places as far as North Carolina and Ohio showing off their talents. However, one contestant that had viewers all saying the same thing was the "incredible" Melbourne Rose, Dervla Dolan. The Tyrone native has lived in Australia since 2022 and she is both a primary and secondary school teacher.
The 25-year-old stepped out in a fabulous red dress and spoke about her love for Australia, her home town in Tyrone and her supportive family. Dervla also spoke about her love for running as she opened up about losing her brother Enda. She said: "Running is a massive part of my life and my family's lives.
"Almost ten years ago my brother Enda was tragically killed by a drunk driver, when he was eighteen years old in Belfast, he had just started studying architecture in university. "Once we lost Enda we faced unimaginable pain, our whole family circle and our wider community were just devastated that his life was taken so soon and it was so short." The Irish beauty told the audience and viewers about The Enda Dolan Foundation, which was set up in memory of her beloved brother.
Dervla said: "He was someone who just loved life, he was the life and soul of the party and he achieved so much in his short life, so what we wanted to do was to really keep his legacy going. "As you can imagine, when a young person dies in a community, the community really rallies around you and we really wanted to say thanks to them for everything they did for myself, my younger brothers and my parents when we were going through such a tough time. "So we set up The Enda Dolan Foundation at home in Omagh and really what it is, it's a way for people to get out, get running, improve their physical and mental health.
"Meet new people, it's non-competitive and we have people who are age six to age eighty. "Over the past ten years we have coached thousands of people in our local area to go from couch to 5k's, couch to 10k's, and couch to half marathon programmes. "Everyone who runs wears their Run For Enda t-shirt with the logo of his hair on it - it's really magical.
" Dervla, who was only sixteen when her brother passed away, campaigned to get legislation changed in Northern Ireland after the incident. Presenter Kathryn said: "I know you and your family campaigned so hard to get legislation changed in the North, when it comes to drink driving." And at 17-years-old, she won The Diana Award, which honours young people who work to improve the lives of others.
RTE viewers were blown away by Dervla's "amazing interview" as they all took to social media to sing her praises. Amanda said: "Incredible." Rachel wrote: "Amazing interview, all in Omagh are so proud of you, Dervla.
" Leeanne commented: "So well spoken Dervla, absolute winner." Another gushed: "You are amazing @dervladolann - our winner." Helen added: "This girl should win, only watched a few but she’s a winner for me on night number 1.
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