Love and war and an Irish Molly in Eurovision 2015

Douze points?

That’s the kind of endorsement that Ireland’s Eurovision entrant Molly Sterling will be hoping for tonight as she takes on the best that Europe — which now stretches to Australia — has to offer.

The referendums are not the only votes in Ireland this week, as we cast our ballot on Saturday to select the 2015 winner of the Eurovision.

Tonight, 17 acts, including Irish Molly, will compete for a place in the final.

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The 17-year-old student from Tipperary will sing ‘Playing with Numbers,’ a ballad she wrote. Bookies are looking at it as an outside chance, in line with Ireland’s current losing streak.

Like Paddy’s Day here, the Eurovision has now morphed into a week-long event. The first semi-final was held on Tuesday and the second is tonight. Then, live from the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, performers will compete in the 60th Eurovision Grand Final on Saturday.

At the first semi-final, 16 entries were whittled down to 10, and most of them, as usual, were dreadful. We saw a creepy waiter from Romania, a leatherette pigmy from Belarus, and an hysterical veiled entry from the Netherlands.

The songs weren’t all lovey-dovey, either. Armenia’s ‘Chase the Shadow’ lamented the nation’s genocide, Hungary sought world piece with the pacifist ‘Wars for Nothing’ while Romania’s ‘All Over Again’ told the tale of a poor family forced to separate. Last night was the Irish Eurovision Party in Vienna. Niamh Kavanagh was the guest of the night and sang her Eurovision winning song ‘In Your Eyes’. She said she loves Molly’s song and wished her luck in the competition.

Her advice to the 17 year old is: “Own that stage. You’re going to be up there and there’ll be millions looking at you with love and support. You just be your wonderful self and you’ll knock ’em dead.’

Molly wasn’t born when Niamh won the Eurovision in 1993, but has heard all about the singer and was touched by her words.

“She really takes you under her wing. You feel like she really cares and understands. She has an amazing voice. And that amazing hair — I want it!”

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