A teenager has been stripped of her title as Belfast's Rose of Tralee, after it emerged she was too young to take part in the competition.
Cliodhna McCorley, won the Belfast heat of the international festival at the Europa Hotel earlier this month, but paperwork completed after the event revealed that the 17-year-old was a year too young to have entered.
The festival committee told t
he girl she could no longer represent the city and a new Belfast Rose, Mary Frances Loughran, who came second, would be taking her place.
Only one point had separated the girls when Cliodhna won the Belfast contest on April 12, beating 16 other finalists to claim the crown, but it will be Mary Frances, from north Belfast, who will now go through to the regional final, which takes place in Portlaoise in June.
Last night Cliodhna told the News Letter about how gutted she was when she realised she was no longer eligible to enter the contest.
But she said she did not hold any ill feeling against the Rose of Tralee organisers.
“What happened was down to an oversight,” said Cliodhna. “I was very disappointed, of course, but it was no one’s fault.
“I had a great time during the competition for the Belfast Rose and would not have missed it for the world.
“It was a great experience and everyone made me feel like a princess.”
Cliodhna, an A level student at St Louis Grammar School in Ballymena, misses out on thousands of pounds worth of prizes including a holiday courtesy of Matrix Holidays, a year’s free hairdressing from Michael Quinn Hairdressing and a £150 shopping voucher for Vero Moda.
Competition organiser Michelle McTernan declined to comment.
The full article contains 297 words and appears in News Letter newspaper.
