Logan’s Euro vision – don’t give up

TRIPLE Eurovision winner Johnny Logan has said Ireland should not give up on the international song competition after our entry was dumped out for a second year in a row at the semi-final stage.

Despite a strong performance from Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy , their song Et Cetera was not one of the 10 selected from Thursday night’s semi-final line-up in Moscow.

“I don’t think we should give up on the contest,” Mr Logan said, adding that Sinéad and Black Daisy had redeemed Ireland’s reputation after the performance of glove puppet Dustin the Turkey at last year’s competition.

However Ms Mulvey ruled herself out of competing again. In an RTÉ interview she said: “No, we wouldn’t go back to the Eurovision. We’ve shown what we can do for Ireland and we know the majority of Ireland are proud of us... We put our heart and soul into that performance.”

When asked about the future, she replied: “Do you know what? I think there’s going to be a lot more of me and Black Daisy. There are so many people already giving offers.”

Meanwhile one Irish Eurovision great has been replaced by another with Graham Norton, 46, taking over from Terry Wogan as host of the BBC’s coverage.

Norton’s first Eurovision as commentator will be a sober one. He is still taking painkillers after breaking his ribs in a fall at home. “I was planning on having a bottle of cheap vodka on an intravenous drip the whole way through, but when I opened my pain medication it said avoid alcoholic beverages.”

Twenty songs chosen from the semi-finals will now take part in tonight’s final, along with automatic qualifiers Russia, Spain, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.