NY Rose Still on Cloud Nine

Irish Voice News

NY Rose Still on Cloud Nine

August 30, 2007

By April Drew

AFTER being crowned the 2007 Rose of Tralee at a ritzy on-air television event in Kerry last week, New York Rose Lisa Murtagh has one important decision to make.

Will she take a year out of her career as an attorney in Manhattan and travel the world to represent the festival, or will she remain in New York and perform her duties from here?

Murtagh, 27, arrived back from Ireland on Sunday, crown in tow, and went back to work at Clifford Chance, a global law firm, on Monday. “Can you believe I’m back to work already?” said the fair-skinned red-head, who said she was still on cloud nine while talking to the Irish Voice on Monday.

Most girls when crowned the Rose of Tralee make the decision to take a year out from their career or studies and travel the world representing the annual festival in Kerry, which is in its 48th year and had record viewership of over one million on Irish broadcaster RTE this year. For Murtagh the decision is a difficult one.

“It’s going to be such a difficult decision,” said the blossoming Rose, who took up a post with the law firm in April. “I’m a bit older than the other girls. I just wish I had done this when I was younger. On the other hand, it really is a once in a life time opportunity.”

Murtagh will spend the next couple of days mulling over her options. “I will speak to some of the other Roses who won over the years and pick their brains,” she said.

According to Murtagh, the Irish media were all over her to make a decision about her plans the day following her crowning.

“It was impossible to make that kind of decision while I was in the midst of things. It hadn’t sank in, and still hasn’t,” she said.

Murtagh said the Rose of Tralee committee have been very supportive of her delayed decision and told her to take her time.

“The organization totally understood that I was still suffering from shock and lack of sleep. They told me it was up to me what I wanted to do. They gave me the option of remaining in New York and doing what I can for the festival here or going to Ireland for the year,” she said.

As part of the Rose of Tralee’s prizes Murtagh received a €25,000 travel voucher to use for Rose business, the use of a car while in Ireland for the year and jewelry and cutlery from Newbridge Silverware.

“Newbridge were very generous to all the girls. And the car is great too. The only thing now is I have to learn to drive it,” she laughed.

Murtagh lives in Yonkers with her mother Breda, originally from Athea in Co. Limerick, and her father Colman, who hails from Longford Town. Her parents met in Gaelic Park in the Bronx in the 1970s. Not only did Murtagh spend several summers in Ireland with her family, she also spent six months in Dublin studying.

Last Christmas Murtagh and a friend traveled to Killorglin in Kerry for a night out. It was in Killorglin, 25 minutes from Tralee, that she was persuaded to enter the New York Rose of Tralee competition.

“We were chatting to three women in their sixties and when they discovered I was from New York they tried to convince me to enter the Rose of Tralee. They said with my red hair and family background I’d be good for it.”

Murtagh, who thought the age cut off point for entry was 25, was elated to see it was in fact 27. She threw her hat in the ring and was crowned the New York Rose on May 19 in Manhattan.

“I really didn’t think I would win the New York round never mind the whole competition,” she said.

Murtagh, who has a younger sister Sinead, met her boyfriend Brian Fitzgerald when she was 16 in his hometown of Askeaton in Limerick. “He asked me to dance but at the time I had a boyfriend so I said no and he took off. I didn’t think he was very nice,” she says.

Years later, Murtagh ran into Fitzgerald again in a bar in Manhattan, developed a friendship and eventually ended up dating. As the song goes “She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer, yet, ‘twas not her beauty alone that won me.” Fitzgerald traveled to Tralee to support his budding rose.

Murtagh arrived in Dublin a week before the festival kicked off to meet with the other 30 Roses, from Ireland and around the globe, before traveling south to Tralee. They also had preliminary interviews with Irish television personality Ray D’Arcy, the host of the live television event on the Monday and Tuesday night.

“Ray asked us lots of interesting and funny questions to prepare us for our TV interview,” Murtagh said.

The girls also met with representatives from Newbridge Silverware, a main sponsor of the event. “They asked us about our dresses to gauge what kind of jewelry would go with them,” she said.

Each Rose wore a hand-selected piece of silver jewelry from Newbridge on the night of their television interviews.

The remainder of the week Murtagh and her 30 new friends were indulged with helicopter tours and spa treatments. They also visited the Cliffs of Moher and Bunratty castle.

“We were having an amazing time. The further south we were going the more exciting the whole thing became,” she remembers.

The 31 sophisticated ladies arrived in Tralee on Friday, August 17, just in time to attend the Rose of Tralee Ball, which is held each year in their honor.

Throughout the weekend each Rose attended an individual interview where five judges, three women and two men, asked them a series of questions about themselves and their opinions on various topics.

“I was really impressed with the judges, in particular Sharon Ni Bheolain (RTE TV presenter). She is a strong symbol of a modern woman. As a judge she was very tough, and then seeing her with her children I saw how soft she was. I thought to myself, wow, this woman really has it all, intelligence, an amazing job and very nurturing,” says Murtagh.

After her individual interview and various group interviews Murtagh soon realized that the judges were seeking a well-rounded girl. “They were really interested in getting a girl who was intelligent, who could speak well and would be a good representative of young Irish women, and that was reflected in their questions,” she says.

The Rose of Tralee main event — a six-minute live television interview for each contestant — began on the Monday night and concluded on the Tuesday. Murtagh, who wore a green Jessica McClintock dress, which she bought in New York, was one of the last girls to go on Tuesday.

Murtagh confidently spoke about her family’s Irish roots, her time in Ireland watching the Rose of Tralee on the television with her cousins, and how she met her boyfriend. Less than an hour later all 31 girls gathered on stage and waited with baited breath to see which lucky girl would take home the title Rose of Tralee 2007.

Moments later, while all 31 contestants from all over the globe huddled together in anticipation, D’Arcy opened the envelope and Murtagh’s name was called out.

“I was in total shock. Ray never said the New York Rose. He just said my name so it took ages to register. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when I was being dragged to the front of the stage that I realized I had actually won,” she says.

The crown was placed on her head to the strains of the traditional Kerry song “The Rose of Tralee.”

After Murtagh was brought out into the streets of Tralee to be introduced as the 2007 Rose to the public she spent the remainder of the evening –- actually, until 6 a.m. in the morning — celebrating with her family, boyfriend and fellow Roses. “We had such a great night,” she says.

After an hour’s sleep Murtagh woke up with a new role. She had now been given the job of representing the festival and Ireland to the rest of the world.

Her first stop was media interviews. Then it was off to the races where she was given a free bet and presented the winner of the big race there with the trophy. Later in the evening she attended a function at Tralee Golf Club. It was 9 p.m. before she got finished with her duties.

For Murtagh her most memorable moment of the week were the children’s faces.

“It was so surreal seeing the children get so excited, that’s the best part seeing how they look up to you. I wasn’t expecting that,” she says. “It gives you an idea of the responsibility you have when you’re wearing that sash.”

Murtagh was also very excited and surprised to see all the people welcome the Roses to Tralee. “I didn’t know there was that many people in Kerry, never mind in Tralee. They all came out to see the Roses. It’s then you suddenly realize how big it is.”

Murtagh, who roomed with the Darwin Rose Kate O’Fathartaigh, said all the girls got along superbly. “The Irish journalists were mad asking me were there any girls I didn’t like, and I had to say that all the girls were lovely. They were all chosen for a reason,” she says.

“I think they wouldn’t have gotten through the local selection if they were catty. They were lovely girls, well spoken and fun. We will all be friends for life.”

Whether it’s from New York or Ireland, Murtagh has one particular ambition in mind.

“I’d like to rejuvenate the Rose of Tralee centers in the U.S., especially New York. I was a bit surprised when I showed up to the New York selection in May to find there were only 12 other girls,” she says.

“New York is such a traditional Irish town and I know that the community is dwindling because of immigration and people aren’t coming over like they used to, but there is still so many people who are of Irish descent so I’d like to see the New York center become the powerhouse it should be.”

With Lisa Murtagh at the helm for the next year, don’t bet against it.

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