Drumlish woman wows judges at Miss Universe finals

Nineteen-year-old Aoife Lennon was Longford’s ambassador at this year’s Miss Universe Ireland.

Fresh from the festivities which took place on Friday night, the native of Drumlish told the Leader that the event was a glamour studded affair.

“It was a great night,” she confided. “The show was hosted by Lisa Cannon (Exposè) and Alan Hughes (TV3) and there were many other famous faces among the crowd. Backstage was hectic. We had to model three different outfits so there was a lot of rushing but we were helped by model Sarah McGovern.”

The competition itself was divided into two slots. The initial stage of the contest consisted of a five minute interview held between the participant and a crew of judges which Aoife found to be a manageable obstacle.

“That was the part I was most nervous for but surprisingly it went really well. They just asked some basic questions and I also walked for them as part of it,” added a quietly contented Aoife.

A grand banquet was held in the Burlington Hotel later that evening which was broadcasted before an audience and was captured by a fleet of TV3 cameras and it was in those final moments before Aoife took to the stage that the nerves trickled to the service. “The nerves started kicking in about five minutes before we went on but it was a great night. Everything went according to plan and a girl from Kerry was the eventual winner”.

Having sampled the modelling environment, Aoife is now concentrating on furthering her career in this sector, “This has opened a lot of doors for me so hopefully I can keep going now”.