Eurovision hopes pinned on not falling ‘fowl’ in Moscow

NOBODY cried ‘fowl’ yesterday when RTÉ announced the six Eurosong finalists.

The roasting Dustin the Turkey got in Belgrade last year after failing to reach the competition’s final left RTÉ chiefs spitting feathers.

The six songs were chosen from a selection of nearly 300 entries from both Ireland and abroad.

The winning entries in the public competition were picked by a jury chaired by former Eurovision winner Linda Martin.

The songs will be performed live on The Late Late Show Eurosong Special 2009 on Friday, February 20.

The six final songs will be screened in the following order:

Flying — performed by MNA and composed by Ronan McCormack.

Out of Control — performed by Laura-Jayne Hunter and composed by Derry O’Donovan.

So What — performed by Lee Bradshaw and composed by Billy Larkin and Kevin Breathnach.

Amazing — performed by Johnny Brady and composed by Tony Adams Rosa.

I Wish I Could Pretend — performed by Kristina Zaharova and composed by Lauris Reinkiks.

Et Cetera — performed by Sinéad Mulvery and Black Daisy, composed by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti and Christina Schilling.

The winner to represent Ireland at the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow in May will be decided equally by a regional jury vote and a public televote and announced at the end of the show.

Dustin’s song, Irlande Douze Points, fell ‘fowl’ of the public voting system in the semi-final last year, despite the fact that Irish bookmakers made him a hot favourite to reach the finals.

It was, however, only the third time in 43 years that Ireland was not represented in the final.