Irish hit high note at Eurovision party

SO, we didn’t win. But hey, nobody told the Irish.

God only knows what the party would have been like if we had finished ahead of the rest. Chants of 'Mickey Joe, Mickey Joe, Mickey Joe' resounded around Skonto Hall, long after all the other supporters had left the building.

And the 300-strong Irish troop burst into renditions of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and 'You'll Never Beat the Irish' sending a clear message to Mickey Harte and the entire Irish contingent that everyone was proud of his performance.

Not even coming 11th in the competition put a damper on the all singing, all dancing Irish supporters who partied all the way.

Many even embraced the British, in a desperate bid to console their supporters on what was a crushing defeat and a 'nul points' performance.

Clad in black tie and singing all the way, we certainly set the tone for what was a classy performance by the smiling man from Lifford, in Co Donegal. Everyone had a flag. Everyone sang. And absolutely everyone was geared up to party, regardless of the vote.

However, despite the party atmosphere, both Mickey Harte and co-composer of his song, Keith Molloy, sounded a sour note about the long-standing competition. Both said the Eurovision won't survive in its current format.

"We did the best we could in the circumstances. If Ireland really wants to win this competition, we have to do a lot of work on our choreography.

"The Eurovision is not so much about the song anymore. It's 50% song, 50% show. Ta Tu shows that. RTE didn't pump the finance we needed into the show. We have to get our act together for next year," Mickey Harte said.

As he stood on a bar stool, addressing the massive Irish party, he said: "It's just as well we didn't win," given the level of celebrations.

Keith Molloy was very disappointed. "It took a few minutes after the voting began for me to realise we weren't going to win. We're now dealing with a very different sort of Eurovision.

"Ireland is such a small country that under the current arrangement, we're not in the running. The whole thing was so, so political, we didn't stand a chance. Even the presenters giving the votes admitted when they were announcing the points that the 10s and 12s were going to their near neighbours.

"We really have to go back to a jury vote. Televoting was brought in to get the public on side. But the whole competition will fail if we don't reform how people vote. We should probably go back to a system of a jury vote, combined with televoting. If we don't, the Eurovision will fail," the Drogheda man warned.

One little person was particularly thrilled the Eurovision was all over. Eight year-old Kyle Harte was absolutely delighted that he could finally have a chunk of his daddy's time. He clung on to Mickey Joe's left leg from the moment he arrived for the Irish party. And after a few pictures, autographs and an oration from a barstool, soaked in champagne, it was back to reality for the 29 year-old as he put his son to bed.

When he returned, the sing-song around the hotel piano truly began. Mickey's mum, Fionnuala, was disappointed but immensely proud of her son.

"He was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. He didn't win tonight but that doesn't really matter. He's been a winner since the You're a Star competition began. He can now focus on what he's good at being a great musician."

There was also a special toast, "to absent friends" as Mickey hugged his mum and pondered how proud his dad would have been to be there.

The craic in the Irish camp was mighty, all the way. In the build-up to Saturday night's contest, the police and even an able crewman were enlisted to help with the preparations.

A number of palms were greased to get the tri-colour hoisted on a statue in the centre of the massive lake outside the Irish hotel.

A similarly generous token gesture was also offered, and accepted, to keep the bar open 'til the early hours on Sunday. It'll be back to reality with a bang as the Irish board flights in Latvia this afternoon with sore heads and even sorer throats for the three-hour journey home.