Donna is Offaly's Rose

But for cajoling from Moneygall publican Ollie Hayes the outcome of last Friday’s Offaly Rose selection night would have been very different.

Twenty-six-year-old Donna Collison was last weekend chosen as Offaly’s representative to go forward to the Rose of Tralee regional finals in Portlaoise.

However she admitted to the Offaly Independent that she had to be convinced to enter a Rose selection event in Ollie Hayes’ Moneygall bar on Easter Sunday by the pub owner himself.

“I actually didn’t know anything about it until I went down to Ollie Hayes’ pub,” Donna said. “Ollie said it to me himself. I said 'no’, but he convinced me in the end.”

On Easter Sunday in Moneygall Donna, daughter of Kevin and Colette and sister to younger brother Dwayne, won the competition between five girls and booked her place in the county selection last Friday.

The cash office worker in Dunnes Stores in Roscrea was pampered along with her ten Offaly Rose competitors by former Rose contestant Catriona McMorris of Reveal Make-Up Salon in Tullamore last Friday, before undergoing both group and individual interviews.

Opting not to do a party piece, Donna explained that she “can’t sing for love nor money”. “I used to do dancing years ago but that was back in primary school and I haven’t done anything since, so I decided then wasn’t the time to test the waters again either,” she added.

The modest Moneygall woman was in no way expecting to win either, and says she almost didn’t recognise her own name when it was called out. “They said Donna Marie, and I was like 'Who’s Donna Marie’,” she laughed. “Then they said 'Collison’ and it was like time stood still for a second. I didn’t have a notion. I never ever thought I’d get through. I was like a deer caught in headlights.”

Though Donna’s selection might have surprised herself, it’s clear why judges fell for her. Modest to a fault and likeable in the extreme, she’s also innately aware of how to protect the Rose of Tralee ethos.

“The thing I look forward to most is meeting kids in schools, especially young girls,” she said. “I remember when I was younger and I used to look at the Rose of Tralee. For me it was like a fairytale. It’s important I make their day as well. If I can make their day for just one day it’ll mean the world, for them and for me.”

Protecting that fairytale element is the reason Donna says she took such good care of her Rosebud Ellie Daly last Friday, even bringing her up on stage.“No matter what age you are you’re a little girl on the inside,” Donna says.

Now looking to the regional final in Portlaoise and meeting all the other Rose contestants, Donna said she’s not thinking further down the line to Tralee. “There’s no point,” she said.

However rest assured Donna has Offaly’s best interests at heart, and well as those of her generous employers, friends and relatives spread throughout the county. “I want to be a good representative for the county,” she said, “because it’s a great county.”

Speaking to the Offaly Independent Moneygall’s Henry Healy said he’s delighted Donna is going forward to represent Offaly. “Fair play to her,” he said. “She represented Moneygall well and I believe she’ll do the county proud.”