Twenty-one-year-old Cara Comerford from Portlaw is the Waterford Rose for 2026!

Following in the footsteps of her late grandmother Jean Walsh (a former Kerry rose), Cara will be Tralee-bound this August to represent the Deise in the Rose of Tralee.

Daughter of Priscilla and Tom Comerford, and brother to Keelan, Cara is a Biomedical Engineering student at MTU in Cork, currently on work placement with Stryker Neurovascular.

She was sponsored in the Waterford Rose competition by The Reg and was selected as overall winner at the selection event held at The Tower Hotel on Saturday night.

This morning (Monday). 'Deise Today' spoke to Cara about her big moment on Saturday night - and how she feels to be representing Waterford in Tralee!

You can listen back to her chat with Damien by clicking on the image above...