TWENTY-four-year-old Killimer stunner Sarah Dunne has won the Miss Trinity College 2014 contest.
Sarah, who is a daughter of the late Pecker Dunne, is studying for a higher diploma in education at the venerable Dublin institution.
Speaking about the competition, she said, “It’s something that runs every year. I just sent in my pictures to the organisers and normally they’d have heats to get into the Ms University but they didn’t have it this year.
“Instead, the judges chose the winners from the applications they received, with people’s details and pictures. I think they went through everyone’s Facebook as well, to see what they were like and to see some other pictures.
“Then they emailed me and told me I had been selected. Now I’ll be going on to the Ms University competition at the start of April. Whoever gets that, goes on to Ms Ireland.”
This isn’t the first success Sarah has had in this type of contest. “I’ve been doing it for a few years. I was in the top three in the Ms Irish Sun last year and top 10 in the Ms Sunday World the year before. I’m always doing bits and pieces but, since I’ve been in Dublin, I’ve been busy with college, so I haven’t been able to do as much as I would have liked.”
Sarah plays the fiddle and the concertina but says the music has also taken a back seat as she tries to concentrate on her studies. She says she settled quite well at Trinity, even though she is something of a curiosity there.
“There’s one girl from home that’s doing the same course as me but, other than that, you wouldn’t see many people from West Clare in Trinity College.”
In the future, she hopes to begin a career in English and religion teaching.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.