She may be one of the most hotly tipped young women to scoop the crown at this year's Rose of Tralee, but, as the festival gets underway, the modest Cork Rose Niamh O' Hanlon is happy to steer clear of the speculation and enjoy the days ahead.

In fact, surprisingly, while one might expect that at this stage all the Roses would be completely focused on the upcoming competition nights in the dome, Niamh is more excited about the Rose tour which starts next Tuesday and will see the 31 young women travel around the country together, taking in some of the most scenic Irish sights.

This comes as little surprise though, as after just a few minutes of chatting with Niamh, it's clear to see that she has been looking forward to this moment for a long time and honestly wants to cherish every second of it. When asked how she first got involved in the festival Niamh explains, "well basically, I've always wanted to enter but, I suppose the shove came when my best friend Helen came home one day and said do you realise that this is the last year you can enter the competition as next year you'll be too old?" She explains that Helen was one of the few people who had known about her long desire to enter the competition and provided that gentle push in the right direction which inspired Niamh to fill in the application forms and take the first step towards entering the competition.

Like many others, Niamh admits that the attraction to the festival was instilled in her as a young child, who when growing up, loved to watch the festival get underway and see the huge diversity of young women who entered the competition. While Niamh says the modern day festival does hold some similarities to those in years gone by, she also firmly believes that many other aspects of the festival have evolved over time and that today's competition is less about talents and more about career women who have managed to juggle it all.

That's not to suggest for any second though that Niamh is lacking in any way in the talent department. The 27-year-old Rockies girl is best described as a great all rounder and enjoys playing hockey and tag rugby, skiing, sailing and running. She also plays piano and flute and has had her voice trained, in fact if she is given the opportunity to perform her talent at the festival she hopes to demonstrate her vocal skills or play a piece on the flute in the festival dome. She's also an avid fan of travelling and languages and speaks fluent German.

Niamh has also had great success career and thoroughly enjoys her job at Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin where she works as a commercial lender. The Cork girl first made the move to the capital after completing a Degree in Commerce & German at University College Cork and an MSc in Marketing Practice at Smurfit Business School, but, like most Cork ex pats she admits that while she is happy to stay in Dublin for another few years, some day she would love to return to the rebel county, that's if she can persuade her Meath man Andy Tallon that Cork is the real capital.