Euro still a winner, says Chris’s mum

HE may have put just seven points on the board, but Chris Doran will always be a winner in his mother’s eyes.

The Eurovision is only a competition and Chris has a great career ahead of him, said Margaret Doran yesterday.

Up to 10,000 fans will gather at Waterford’s Walsh park tonight to welcome him home from 7pm.

Mrs Doran said she was the proudest mother in the world as she watched Chris perform in Istanbul from the balcony of the 9,000-seater Abdi Ipeki Stadium on Saturday night.

Alongside her were Chris’s sister Catherine, brothers Jim, Dan and Myles and seven of her grandchildren.

“He is still a winner and we are all so proud of him and love him to bits. He did brilliantly and he looked lovely on the night. He couldn’t have done any more. And he is still a winner in the eyes of everyone who came over with us,” said Margaret.

She said his entry was a fabulous and beautiful song but it seemed that all voters wanted in the Eurovision now was fast music. The Eurovision was supposed to be about the songs, but it didn’t appear to be like that anymore, she said.

“You never know how it’s going to go. It’s only a competition at the end of the day. What is important is that he has a great career ahead of him. It was such an achievement to get so far.”

Margaret said Chris will get over the disappointment in a few days and move on with building his career. “He is looking forward to his gigs and his single is at number one still. You couldn’t ask for anything more.”

A disappointed Chris said he was looking forward to the welcome home party.

“It was all down to politics on Saturday night. All the former USSR countries voted for one another. Linda Martin has said to me that if she or Johnny Logan were singing on Saturday night, they wouldn’t have won either. I’ll get over it but I’m very disappointed at our placing, after all the hard effort that we put in,” said Chris.