Near Banbridge town, in the County Down One evening last July Down a bóithrín green came a sweet colleen And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so neat in her two bare feet To the sheen of her nut-brown hair Such a coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself To make sure I was standing there.
From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair colleen That I met in the County Down.
As she onward sped I shook my head And I gazed with a feeling queer And I said, says I, to a passerby \"Who's your one with the nut-brown hair?\"
He smiled at me, and with pride says he, \"She's the gem of old Ireland's crown. Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann And the star of the County Down.\"