Walsh hails 'incredible' Byrne as Mary exits X Factor

The finalists of this year’s 'The X Factor'were decided as supermarket worker Mary Byrne bowed out of the contest.

Singers Matt Cardle, Rebecca Ferguson, Cher Lloyd and boy group One Direction will battle it out in Saturday’s final.

Byrne found herself in the bottom two along with early favourite Lloyd after their performances on Saturday night’s show failed to impress the viewers.

The Dubliner gave a powerful performance of 'It’s a Man’s World' in a bid to save herself in the sing-off, but the judges opted last night to keep Lloyd in the competition for the final week.

The teen sang an emotional rendition of Britney Spears’ 'Every Time'.

Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue all voted to save Lloyd – meaning a trip home to Dublin for Byrne.

Walsh was the only judge who opted to send his act through to the final. Walsh now has no acts to take into the final as Byrne was the last contestant in his over 28s category.

After the sing-off, he said: “Mary was incredible, she was emotional.”

Cole added: “This is really difficult because Mary you have always touched me with your vocal and you know that. You are two completely different acts that we would not compare in the real world.

“But Cher is my girl and I backed her from the start and I will until the end.”

Cowell said that he had supported Byrne from the start of the competition and she was a “great contestant”.

Byrne missed her sound-check for Saturday’s performance due to ill health.

On Saturday night after she sang 'Never Can Say Goodbye' by Gloria Gaynor as her first song, part of the ITV1 show’s club classics theme, Cowell said that she should have chosen a more “contemporary” song.

But Walsh hit back by saying: “She’s literally got out of her bed to perform. She’s had no rehearsal.”

She almost did not finish her second song 'The Way We Were' by Barbra Streisand as she broke down in tears, later explaining it was her late mother’s favourite song.

Byrne wowed the judges with her powerful voice from the very start of the competition.

Her employer, Tesco, started a campaign for all staff to support her and have marked the till in the Dublin store where she worked.

She was in the bottom three last week when Wagner Carrilho and Katie Waissel were booted from the show.

Speaking about the highlight of her X Factor journey, she told host Dermot O’Leary: “It was meeting the soldiers. Doing that CD for the guys in Afghanistan.”

Byrne, together with all the contestants that made it through to the live shows of the contest, is currently topping the UK singles chart with the charity track 'Heroes' – a David Bowie cover – in aid of 'Help For Heroes'.

It seems though that Byrne’s dreams of pop stardom are not over as Walsh hinted the mother-of-one would record an album.

The results show also saw X Factor champion Alexandra Burke return to the stage to perform her new single 'Silence'.

The songstress won the show in 2008 and has since had chart-topping success.

The cast of hit US TV show Glee also took to the stage to sing their version of Journey’s 'Don’t Stop Believing' and US Band the Black Eyed Peas performed the futuristic track 'The Time'.

:: The X Factor final is on Saturday on TV3 at 7pm.