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Newly crowned Miss Ireland Caoimhe Kenny has told how her famous football dad Stephen Kenny encouraged her to chase her dreams.
On Saturday night, the 24-year-old was crowned the 77th Miss Ireland at a ceremony in the Knightsbrook Hotel in Trim, Co Meath on Saturday night.
The Co Louth native, from Blackrock, told how much of an honour it is being Miss Ireland 2025. She said: “It is an honour. I fully believe in myself. I put the work in over the past several months. I felt confident I can do it but at the same time, the women I shared the stage with are all so incredible and they all have incredible stories and in that moment, it really can be anyone’s to take.
“The judges are looking for different things and who they feel should represent Ireland at Miss World. I was the lucky one. On that day, they felt I was the right person for that job, and they believed in me. My parents are so incredibly supportive and so is my dad. If anyone has shown me to go and chase dreams, it’s my dad. My dad, when he was a young child and said he wanted to be a football manager, his parents believed in him. They carried that forward with me. They were 100 per cent behind me and supportive.”
The Brown Thomas beauty buyer admitted that while she doesn’t like to tell people who her famous dad is, she doesn’t shy away from the family connection when she meets people.
“I would never go forward with ‘I’m the daughter of Stephen Kenny’ but at the end of the day, that is who my dad is and I’m proud of that.
“I have a lovely loving relationship with him. I would never try and hide it. But obviously I want people to know that I have a story too and I want people to get to know me and see beyond that. But I wouldn’t try to hide that. I wouldn’t change my parents for the world.”
But she joked that with all the chaos around the Miss Ireland finals, she forgot about Father’s Day on Sunday. “I woke up on Sunday morning and realised it was Father’s Day. I said to him, ‘That’s your Father’s Day present’. I had it in my head that it was Father’s Day and usually I’m on the ball with the presents and the cards but just this one weekend, I think I was caught up in what I was doing. But he found that amazing. He definitely enjoyed that comment,” she said laughing.
Caoimhe, who has been a dancer since she was five years old, is one of Siobhán and Stephen Kenny’s four children, along with siblings Eoin, Neave and Fionn. She is also a volunteer with Save Our Homeless Dundalk and Hygiene Hub Louth.
“The big part of Miss Ireland and Miss World is your beauty with a purpose projects so that’s all about your reason why you want to be Miss Ireland. For me, that’s the work that I do in my community and that is Save Our Homeless Dundalk and Hygiene Hub Louth. I’m very proud to volunteer with them.
“For me, volunteering in my community keeps me incredibly grounded. I realised and learned that you don’t need to live someone’s struggle to stand with them, you just need the courage to show up and the will to act. For me, it’s inspiring other people that they could make a difference and be a voice to the unheard.
“Every single one of us has a part to play in society. That’s the message I want to bring forward to Miss Ireland. We all have a responsibility. The likes of homelessness….it can happen to anyone. If it can happen to anyone, the help must come from everyone.
“That’s the message I want to bring. We can all have a positive impact. You don’t need to be powerful to create change – you just have to care enough to try.”
The winner of Miss Ireland receives a modelling agency contract and a host of prizes before jetting off to represent Ireland next year on the international stage at the Miss World Festival.
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