Ireland fail to book spot in Eurovision grand final

Irish entry Wild Youth performing at the Eurovision semi-final at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Despite all the hype and expectation, the gold suit and pyrotechnics, Ireland has again failed to qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

They fulfilled their promise to deliver a “big and bold” performance, but Wild Youth failed to make it into the top 10 of the 15-acts who performed in Tuesday’s first semi-final in the Liverpool Arena and who will advance to Saturday’s final.

The Dublin four-piece, Conor O’Donohoe, Callum McAdam, Ed Porter and David Whelan, went into the semi-final knowing they faced tough competition with previous winner Loreen representing Sweden and fan favourite Kaarija representing Finland.

But despite some apparent nerves, O’Donoghue, strutting his stuff in his gold Elvis-style suit, wowed the crowd with a powerful performance of their uplifting pop anthem, We Are One, sixth in the running order, after Portugal and before Croatia.

The song was written by O’Donohoe and Porter, along with esteemed Swedish songwriter Jörgen Elofsson, who co-wrote Grammy-nominated tracks for Kelly Clarkson and has also written songs for Britney Spears, Westlife and Boyzone.

Eurovision’s organiser, the European Broadcasting Union, changed the voting format this year, scrapping national juries for the semi-finals and, for the first time, allowed viewers from outside participating countries to vote – a move to capitalise on Eurovision’s widening global appeal, they said.

The changes were also in response to “irregular patterns” that were reportedly detected in voting from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino at Eurovision 2022.

But not even the new voting arrangement was enough to land Wild Youth one of the top 10 slots, which were bagged by Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia, and Norway.

The 67th Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Liverpool after the UK, as last year’s runners-up, agreed to host it on behalf of war-torn Ukraine – the first time one country has hosted for another, and the first time the competition has been hosted in the UK for 25-years.

It was co-hosted by Ukrainian Julia Sanina, who helped open the show with a song, before she was joined by Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon, and Ted Lasso actror, Hannah Waddingham.

The show had a strong Ukrainian flavour, with the Eurovision logo coloured yellow and blue, and the video postcards featuring clips of scenic areas of the country.

Among the usual mix of Eurovision insanity and eccentricity was a live interview with Dustin the turkey, who left quickly after Waddingham claimed she could see his giblets, Waddingham herself rocking out with an air guitar and hitting one of the highest notes of the night, and a cameo appearance by the ageing members of Buck's Fizz in a queue outside a red telephone box.

But there were also many moving tributes to the people of Ukraine still resisting the Russian invasion, and the millions who have fled to safety.

Ukrainian singer Alyosha, who represented her country at the 2010 Eurovision and who has also fled the war, shared her personal journey in a haunting arrangement of Duran Duran’s Ordinary World, alongside Liverpool-born singer-songwriter, Rebecca Ferguson, against the backdrop of a stunning visual show.

Rita Ora delivered a medley of some of her biggest hits in the interval act, with the help of a young Ukrainian dance now living in the north of England.

Ireland has participated in Eurovision more than 50 times and has a record seven wins, but has failed to qualify for the final since Ryan O’Shaughnessy entered with his song Together in 2018.

Our string of Eurovision success includes a hat-trick of three consecutive wins from 1992-1994, and Johnny Logan’s victories in 1980 and 1987. He is the only artist to have won Eurovision twice in the competition’s 67-year history. Ireland's other triumphs have been with Dana in 1970 and Eimear Quinn in 1996.

Our best showing in the last 15 years was qualifying for the final in 2018, and before that, when Jedward finished eighth in 2011 with ‘Lipstick’.

The second Eurovision semi-final will be broadcast on RTÉ One on Thursday, with the grand final taking place on Saturday from 8pm.

Conor O’Donohoe, who wore a green shamrock necklace, was surrounded by pyrotechnics as he delivered the song’s vocal climax. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

The 10 countries who will qualify from Thursday’s semi-final will join the “big five” – the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, along with last year’s winners Ukraine - to compete for the winning spot.

Mae Muller, 25, will compete for the UK with her track I Wrote A Song, which features tongue-in-cheek lyrics about a cheating ex-boyfriend and a propulsive dance beat.

The grand final will open with a powerful performance from last year’s winners, Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, titled ‘Voices of a New Generation’.

During the Eurovision Flag Parade of all 26 finalists, viewers will be treated to a unique performance by some iconic past Ukrainian Eurovision contestants, with their Eurovision entries weaved in with British classics.

Last year’s UK runner-up, Sam Ryder will play as part of the interval act which will include a piece titled The Liverpool Songbook celebrating the host city’s incredible contribution to the world of pop music.

The BBC has also brought together six iconic past Eurovision acts – Italy's Mahmood, Israel's Netta, Iceland's Daði Freyr, Sweden's Cornelia Jakobs, Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands and Liverpool's Sonia - to celebrate 30 years since she came second at Eurovision in 1993.