The Eurovision Song contest takes place this Saturday in Vienna but unfortunately Ireland won’t be adding to its record seven victories in the competition.
Ireland’s entry, Playing With Numbers by Molly Sterling, failed to qualify from the second semi-final and make it through to the showpiece event.
It is a real shame for 17-year-old Molly, who is Ireland’s youngest ever entrant in the competition. Her soulful ballad, which she co-wrote with Greg French, sounded like it could have been a real contender to scoop the top prize, but surprisingly was not voted through by Europe’s other nations.
The Tipperary based singer is clearly a talented singer and musician and no doubt has a bright future ahead of her. Here is a video of her song, Playing With Numbers.
The Eurovision Song contest has a history of unpredictability with sometimes gimmicky or whacky songs proving more popular than more credible efforts.
Ireland holds the record for the most number of wins with seven, including three in a row from 1992 to 1994.
The success in the early nineties was a source of some controversy in Ireland. The rules of Eurovision mean that the nation who is the reigning champion, hosts the next year’s final.
With Ireland winning it three times in a row, it meant they had to host it three times in a row and there were theories that the Irish authorities wanted to lose its title as the final was too expensive to host each year.
There was even an episode of Father Ted dedicated to Eurovision, in which Ted and Dougal entered the competition themselves with their song ‘My Lovely Horse’.
One person who will be glad that Ireland held on to the title in the early nineties will be Michael Flatley. His Riverdance show was launched during the interval of the 1994 show, and has since become a global phenomenon.
Read about Riverdance’s first performance at Eurovision 1994.
