Irish pair flop in Eurovision qualifiers

Irish representatives Donna and Joseph McCaul have fallen at the first hurdle in their quest to win upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

The brother and sister duo from Athlone, performing their song, “Love” in Kiev tonight, failed to impress the European audience, who voted by phone and SMS to send ten performers into the final.

It was the first time Ireland had to qualify for the competition, which is celebrating its 50th year.

After the performances by the 25 hopefuls, envelopes were opened to reveal the successful semi-finalists, including Israel, Denmark and Latvia, who now join the 14 countries who already have a guaranteed place in the final.

In March, viewers of the You’re A Star talent competition to pick this year’s entry voted for Donna and Joseph to represent Ireland in the Ukraine.

The siblings beat The Henry Girls and Jade in the finals of the Irish televised contest.

But tonight they failed to progress to the Eurovision Song Contest Final with the tune penned by Karl Broderick, which was released as a single in Ireland at the end of April.

The final will nevertheless be shown on RTÉ this Saturday night. Despite being knocked out, the Irish team plans to stay and enjoy the final.