Waterford Rose announced amidst 'mind-blowing' competition
The 2026 Waterford Rose, Cara Comerford, alongside the other entrants. Photo: Libby Marchant
Cara Comerford, a 21-year-old from the village of Portlaw, has been named as the 2026 Waterford Rose. She had stiff competition as this year marked the highest number of entrants in Waterford in the history of the competition.
Twenty-one women under the age of thirty gathered in the Tower Hotel on Saturday nights with hopes to represent their county in the festival in Tralee this August. The Waterford Rose also undertakes many activities during her two-year tenure, including charity work and social justice activism.
Currently in her third year of Biomedical Engineering at Munster Technological University Ms Comerford is undertaking a nine-month work placement with Stryker Neurovascular. Outside of her academics, Irish dancing has been a “huge part” of her life since she was four. She is “proudly dancing with the Mulcahy-Bible School of Irish Dance”.
On the night, Ms Comerford did some Irish dancing for the audience and introduced them to her boyfriend, Eoin, who travelled from the Netherlands to be there on the night.
The Waterford News & Star spoke to previous Rose of Tralee winner and Waterford Rose, Kirstan Mate Maher. She said, “We’ve had so many different careers and people in different stages of life and that’s what this is all about, giving people from all different kinds of backgrounds and walks of life a chance to take center stage.” Ms Maher’s advice to Ms Comerford is, “Girl, do you! Every year, there is a girl with a different focus and a different cause and it's amazing to see what it is every year.” She continued that “everyone has one thing in common – we love the craic!” 2024 Waterford Rose Abby Walsh told the Waterford News & Star, “I hope they stay as tight knit as they are, the overall aim is to make the friendships and empower each other.” In her final speech as Waterford’s Rose, Ms Walsh said she “genuinely” didn’t think she would get chosen and her goal of making friends had “already been completely before I’d even began.”
The CEO of the Rose of Tralee Anthony O’Gara told the Waterford News & Star that the selection was “mind-blowing.” “I think the reason why the Rose of Tralee is successful is because it's hung on women’s personalities and their capacities to speak about their lives. If it was about men, we’d be in trouble.”
