Joe's Rose of Tralee role!

"It's a huge honour to be part of the Rose of Tralee, it's like the Eurovision or the All Ireland!"

Rose escort Joe Standish from Coolderry is Offaly's only representative at this year's world-famous festival.
"We don't have a Rose this year, so I'll be flying the colours for Offaly," says Joe, who was speaking direct from the Rose Hotel on Wednesday, awaiting the arrival of the Roses. He has been paired up with the Boston and New England Rose, Tanya Stanley.
Now in its 60th year, the Rose of Tralee will commence later this week, running from August 23 to August 27. The HR administrator attended school in Birr and recently finished a degree in Business and Management in Maynooth.
The "experience" of meeting new people was just one of the many reasons Joe decided wanted to be a Rose escort.
"This was always something I wanted to do, having grown up watching it on tv," he continues. "I saw the ad for it online and it all happened so quickly, the interview followed by the bootcamp - it's been a busy summer preparing for this.
"You meet so many new people - the 31 other escorts are great, you make a group of new friends.
"There are people here who have been involved for the last 15 years, who come back every year, and it's just an amazing experience to be part of it all."
It's a huge honour for Joe's family too, he says, who are all Tralee-bound."Everyone's very excited," continues Joe, who thanked sponsors Galvin Tullamore for "kitting" him out in his finery, as well as his dad's business Standish Sawmills, and Brady's Clockhouse, Maynooth.
One of the 32 men will be selected as the Rose Escort of the Year live on RTÉ One on Monday August 26.
This weekend, the Festival Dome will play host to the Rose Ball, 80s Night with Abbaesque, Autumn Winter Fashion Show and of course, the TV Rose Selections on RTÉ presented by Dáithí Ó Sé.