This article is from page 21 of the 2005-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
BEING crowned _ the ‘International — Festival Queen of Ireland’ has cer- tainly not gone to Kinvara woman Emma Kilkelly’s head as the 19-year-old seems to have both her feet firmly on the ground.
Just hours after win- ning the prestigious title, which is competed for by the winners of regional festivals from all over Ire- land and beyond, Emma was on her way to Mos- ney for the finals of the community games.
After celebrating her victory late into’ the evening of Friday August 26 the GMIT business student made the journey to Mosney early on Sat- urday morning to referee the camogie semi finals playoff between Cork and Offaly.
“I knew I had commit- ted myself to refereeing the match but I had no idea I was going to win the tile,” said an overjoyed Emma. “To be honest I’ve
been coming to Mosney all my life as a competi- tor and now as a referee and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Emma qualified to take OV MBD MMO MBKION EU MEDAN being crowned the Gort Show Queen, an achieve- ment which also qualified her to compete for the Galway Rose Competi- tion. She was also select- ed as the Banrion at the Gouterievlempercmpeelar:(eme aloe val and The Oyster Pearl at the 50th International Galway Oyster Festival.
The International Fes- tival Queen of Ireland Sores} orem isco me meue- Hever! by Dundalk man Mr. Pat- sy Rogers and involved a formal interview on Fri- day evening followed by an interview live on stage later that night.
Emma was joined at the festival by her fam- ily, friends and support- ers, along with her spon- sor, Patricia Kilkelly of Streams Beauty Rooms im ecoum