The current Fermanagh Rose, Aoife McCann, puts Paul McDonagh and Andrew Toye through their paces ahead of this years Rose of Tralee. The two Fermanagh lads will be escorting contestants at this years competition RMGFH181
TWO local men will fly the flag for Fermanagh as escorts at this year’s Rose of Tralee International Festival.
Gap year student Andy Toye (22) from Aghadrumsee and 25-year-old Paul McDonagh from Tempo will be play an integral role in this year’s festival, running from August 14 to 18 and have already taken part in a rigorous bootcamp in Kerry.
At the bootcamp the 32 escorts learnt their roles in Tralee and took on a host of activities including sheep shearing, horse back riding and turf collecting.
Speaking to the Herald this week Andy explained that a chance meeting in a Clones pub led him to be involved in the competition.
“They were doing the Monaghan Rose selection and someone came up to me and asked could I help out and fill in the position of an escort. That was fine, I did my job, all was good, but then they asked me to go with the girl that won the Monaghan Rose to the regional final.
“So we went on with that, unfortunately she didn’t win it, but I got talking to them and the people involved and I actually really enjoyed it so I stayed involved and from there people told me to go in as an escort and I thought why not?”
“My role as escort pretty much is to look after the girl and make sure she’s having a good time and is enjoying herself and the whole campaign doesn’t get too heavy for them. It can be quite overwhelming for the girls and it’s good to be able to take that bit of pressure of them.
So far it has been an experience Andy will never forget and he can’t wait to head down to Tralee for the main event.
“I can’t wait. I think it’s going to be such an amazing weekend. I’ve talked to past escorts and they’ve just said it’s an amazing opportunity, so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s meant to be a very intense weekend, but it’s also meant to be a very fun weekend.”
Tempo man Paul McDonagh, who works for the Department of Agriculture and runs his own business Leam Agri is the other local escort.
In his own words the 25-year-old wanted to “do something different” and first took part in the Fermanagh Rose selection, before being selected for Tralee.
Reflecting on the experience so far Paul has no regrets.
“The amount of new friends, even in that 72 hours at the bootcamp was just fantastic. It should be a mighty, mighty experience, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’ll remember it to my death bed.”
Both escorts are indebted to the support of their sponsors. Andy is sponsored by the Jolly Sandwich and Mallon’s Barbershop, while Paul is supported by Virogen Ltd (Wind energy), Campbell’s Contracts, Tempo and Leam Agri.
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