Róisín Inglewas in the packed dome to see the New York Rose crowned as Rose of Tralee
Start spreading the news. Her reign starts today. New York Rose, legal eagle Lisa Murtagh (27) was crowned the 48th Rose of Tralee last night after being one of the steady favourites with the bookies from the outset of the competition.
With her red hair, Manhattan address and high flying job as an attorney, the skiing enthusiast was inevitably being compared to Miranda from Sex And the Cityalthough image-wise she was more of a Nicole Kidman or Maureen O'Hara lookalike.
One of several Roses who put Oprah Winfrey down as the person they'd most like to meet, she was teary-eyed when presented with the crown by Ray D'Arcy.
"This is the best group of girls I've ever met in my life, I will try to represent to the best of my abilities these 30 amazing women," she said.
According to the strict festival guidelines, set in stone over almost 50 years, the new Rose of Tralee was indeed lovely and fair but it was not her beauty alone that won the judges over. She was seen as a contestant who had gradually come out of her shell over the course of the competition, an elegant and accomplished contestant who's family originated from Longford and Limerick.
In a deviation from regular Rose procedure, the winner was serenaded by the Roses who had taken part in Charity You're A Starrecently.
Earlier in the evening, among the Roses interviewed last night, sharp-shooting San Francisco Rose Katie Van Bogaert's party piece was always going to be interesting. Would the award- winning rifle target expert bring one of her guns on stage? Would she do a Willie O'Dea and point her weapon at Ray D'Arcy for a giggle?
Don't be ridiculous. This is the Rose of Tralee we are talking about so Ms Van Bogaert demonstrated her Olympic standard rifle expertise by, drum roll please, tossing an umbrella around. Annie Get Your Gun? Katie get your brolly, more like.
Blame Rihanna. The young Barbados popstar's Umbrellasong has provided the soundtrack for this damp squib of a summer and even the Roses have composed their own corny version which they sing to the escorts at every opportunity.
"It's now raining more than ever/Curse this dreadful Irish weather/You look like such a lovely fella/Can I stand under your umbrella? Ella. Ella. Ella."
If you think that's impressive, check out their homage to the Spice Girls:
"If you wanna be my escort, you gotta get with my girls/learn to hold my handbag and buy me Newbridge pearls".
And they say girl power is dead.
Lady power is more what this competition is about, or as Philadelphia Rose Colleen Gallagher put it last night, "we can be nurturers and mothers and achievers in the workplace and we can also be beautiful and well rounded".
Bless.
Security was even tighter than usual in the dome last night following a bomb scare at Tralee races earlier in the day.
Unfortunately, the security was not tight enough to stop New Orleans Rose Rosie Dempre bringing her guitar on stage and singing an interminable, tuneless, self-penned song called Heaven Knows- and heaven knows we were miserable listening to it.
It's worth mentioning that after three years, Ray D'Arcy has made this gig his own by bringing his unaffected blend of irreverence, warmth and wit to one of the most loved, most derided television events ever.
It's also one of the most watched. Monday night's show was viewed by an audience of 724,000, just over 160,000 more than the numbers who watched last year.
Love them or loathe them, Ray and the Roses must be doing something right.