Annaclone’s Maeve hoping childhood Down Rose dream is set to come true

AN ANNACLONE woman is hoping to fulfil a lifelong dream as she competes in the final of the Down Rose, aiming for a spot in the Rose of Tralee International Festival.

Maeve Farrell grew up watching the Rose of Tralee competition on TV and indeed competed for the title of Down Rose 10 years ago at the tender age of 18.

And now she’s back to give it another go in what Maeve says is almost a “now or never” moment.

Country music fans will be familiar with Maeve, as she is a busy recording and touring artist on the Irish country scene, as well as leading her popular CountryFIT dance classes.

And she is hoping to add yet another string to her bow by being crowned the Down Rose.

Speaking to The Outlook ahead of Friday's final at the Canal Court Hotel in Newry, Maeve said she is delighted to be back in the mix for the title 10 years on from her first attempt.

“The experience I had 10 years ago was such a positive one and it had always made me really want to get back involved,” Maeve says.

“The last few times, there wasn’t a competition because of Covid and then in 2023 I was living in Australia so this year, it was a case of ‘it’s now or never, let's do it’.”

In her first appearance at the competition in 2015, Maeve was named the ‘Baby Rose’ as she was the youngest Down Rose contestant in the competition, and her previous experiences have trickled into her music career, as she is known as ‘The Country Rose’.

Maeve is sponsored in the competition by JivinGym, a fellow dance school, and will be supporting a charitable fundraiser organised by JivinGym in the Fairways Hotel in Dundalk on Saturday, 28 June.

“It’s a 14 hour danceathon entitled Dance for David and there will be a lot of well-known names performing from 11am right through to 1am.

“There will be Jimmy Buckley, Philomena Begley, Gavin Gribben, I’ll be performing too.

“Emotional and mental wellbeing is very close to my heart, we all have family and friends affected in this way and I’m delighted to be an ambassador for the event.”

And through her country music career as well as her involvement with Down Rose, Maeve is hoping to be an inspiration to young women.

“I very much always wanted to be a role model for others growing up,” she says. “There were so many females on the country scene about whom I was thinking, 'that's a person I really want to be like'.

“Quite often, people say you are going to be a doctor or a lawyer or this or that, country music is not a traditional vocation, nobody in my family has done this, and I would just love to inspire others to do this.

“This is my dream and I want to follow that dream.”