AOIFE KELLY, the first Tipperary Rose to scoop the Rose of Tralee title, said yesterday she was "over the moon" at the judges' selection that saw her crowned in front of 1,700 people and a television and internet audience of well over one million.
RTÉ said the Tuesday night live broadcast had again performed "very strongly", with 892,000 people tuning in at one point.
The show was "a consistent ratings winner for RTÉ", a spokeswoman said.
Ms Kelly (23), from Portroe in Tipperary, joins an elite group of winners, most of whom are expected to gather in Tralee next year to celebrate the festival's 50th anniversary.
"I am absolutely over the moon. It's a great honour," said Ms Kelly.
The occupational therapist, who works at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, took her first media call shortly after 8am yesterday and had conducted 10 live radio interviews by 2pm.
She was looking forward to being an ambassador for Ireland and for the festival, she said.
Ms Kelly's first official duty was to visit the children's and elderly wards at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee. After a rest in the afternoon she presented prizes at Tralee Golf Club.
Ms Kelly has chosen the Irish Wheelchair Association as her charity for the year. She will be juggling her duties as Rose with her work responsibilities over the next few months.
Ms Kelly was recently engaged to a London-based engineer, Leon de Klerk. The pair met while bungee-jumping in South Africa and plan to marry next year.
This year's festival was a success, said a spokesman. The dome - a temporary structure erected at the Fels Point Hotel - was full for fashion shows, concerts and the Rose selection itself. Some 900 people had attended the black-tie Rose Ball.
Street attendance was up and the reintroduction of late-night parties at the dome had been hugely successful.
There was one sour note. Gardaí in Tralee are appealing for information on a stabbing at around 1.15am in the town's centre yesterday.
A man in his 30s was recovering in Kerry General Hospital after being stabbed in the face with a broken bottle.
Otherwise, gardaí said there were few incidents to report during the festival.
Rose by the same name: just as sweet
THE ORGANISERS of a west of Ireland festival were yesterday smiling wryly after Tipperary's Aoife Kelly was crowned the 2008 Rose of Tralee - just days after their own beauty pageant was also won by an Aoife Kelly.
There is even a chance the "other" Aoife Kelly could take part in next year's Rose of Tralee, raising the prospect of the event being won two years in a row by girls of the same name.
Biomedical science graduate Aoife Kelly (23) was selected as the Queen of the Lakes before a crowd of 400 in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, last Friday night. She now goes forward to the Rose of Mayo event, the winner of which will take part in a further heat, leading to possible inclusion in the 2009 Rose of Tralee.
The Ballinrobe Aoife was stunned when her namesake won the Rose of Tralee. "I didn't even get to put a bet on her. She was available at 9/2 . . . but I'm not really the betting type." - Liam Horan