The newly crowned Rose of Tralee says winning the competition has been a pipe dream since she was a child.
Elysha Brennan took the title in the Festival Dome last night, after becoming the first Meath Rose to reach the televised stage of the contest.
And the 2015 Rose of Tralee is Meath Rose Elysha Brennan #roseoftralee pic.twitter.com/cheqwiheGE
— Rose of Tralee (@RoseofTralee_) August 18, 2015
The second year medical student has spoken openly about her battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and was given the all-clear in 2013.
As news of her win sinks in this morning, Elysha says she hopes her positive message about recovery will help others, as she looks forward to the next stage of her life:
Her dad Donal Brennan says she's been on stage from a young age - and he's really proud of her:
This year the show proved a massive hit on Twitter. Figures released this morning show more than 52,000 Tweets were sent during the two days of the live shows with #RoseOfTralee trending worldwide.
At 11:26 last night there were 140 tweets per minute using the hashtag.
