Offaly Rose Emma Kirwan says she is delighted with the grades she received in her Leaving Cert results, but admits she has been too busy to calculate her points.
The 18-year-old from Killeigh, Co Offaly, who is the youngest contestant in the bunch, had her Leaving Cert results delivered to Tralee by her parents, who drove over three hours to make sure their daughter could have peace of mind.
"It was a hectic enough day. It started off this morning and I was texting my mam to come down with the results, telling her to hurry on. She came down at 2.30pm, and I had just come out from my interview with the judges," she told 2fm's Eoghan McDermott.
Emma is currently competing for a place in next week's live Rose of Tralee finals, and admits while the judges were friendly and made her feel at ease, all she wanted to do was get down to her mum.
"The second the interview was over I ran down the stairs like a crazy person and almost ripped the envelope in half".
Check out Emma's profile video here.
Emma, who hopes to study aeronautical engineering in college, says she hasn't had the chance to calculate her points yet as she was busy doing press interviews all day.
"I am delighted. I've gotten exactly what I wanted subject wise. I know I've hit my subject requirements so I'm delighted. It's just adding up the points now because I haven't a clue," she added.
Offaly Rose Emma Kirwan passed!! 😊🌹#RoseofTralee #LeavingCertResults pic.twitter.com/GsLzD1o56F
— Rose of Tralee (@RoseofTralee_) August 17, 2016
When asked what she made of poetry being eliminated from this year's show, Emma says that she always found the party-piece to be a nice part of the festival.
"I don't think they were rubbish. I think this year, with it being the Centenary, reciting Yeats poems could have been nice up there," she added.
The Rose of Tralee live shows, presented by Daithí Ó Sé, will take place on August 22 and 23 from the Festival Dome on RTÉ One at 8pm.
