Ireland is Eurovision's most successful nation, winning a massive 7 times, 4 of which were in the 1990's.  Somehow, since their last win in 1996, it's gone horribly wrong, where Ireland have faced relegation, low positions and failure to qualify from the Semi. 2001 and 2004 saw horribly low results, and in 2004 the Irish were saved from the elusive 'nul points' only by the 7 points that the UK awared them.  They had high hopes for brother and sister duet Donna & Joe last year, changing their tracks from entering 'just another boring male ballad' which had once proved so popular.  Unfortunately, it was not to be and although Donna & Joe managed an alright 14th place out of 25, it wasn't enough to let Ireland qualify, and they find themselves in the Semi-Final for the second year running.

 

 

Unfortunately Ireland have opted for the boring male ballad again, but in their defense, they've chosen an experienced and polished performer in the form of Brian Kennedy and the song is really rather good as well (as far as boring male ballads go).  Brian will give a flawless performance of the song, and although I like it I'm not convinced it will do well.  The song doesn't necessarily go anywhere, a simple key change would have done this the world of good.  Nonetheless, it is a beautiful song, in my opinion the best of any of the other ballads in the Contest bar Greece, and I hope Europe go for it.

 

 

As much as I'd love to see this qualify and do well, the competition is far too strong and this might not shine or stand out from the rest.  On the other hand, there is an outside chance that it could qualify for the fact that it doesn't shine, and could be appreciated solely for its simplicity and lack of ambiguous showbiz.  I suggest Europe will go for other ballads in the contest though (most likely in the form of neighbourly votes) and Ireland will miss out.  Good luck though!

 

 

Brian, though rather ugly, came across well onstage, and brought the Irish ballad back to Eurovision with style and professionalism.  I was still surprised to see this qualify over songs such as Estonia and Belgium, but nonetheless, there were enough people in Europe who liked it to bring it through to the Final.  Once there, it's hard to say how Brian will fare.  Will Europe like the emotional simplicity of the song and bring Eurovision back to Dublin 10 years later?  Or will it pick up votes here and there and possibly manage to qualify? It's hard to say, so I think we'll see a middle of the road position.

 

 

Ireland's qualification was one of the big surprises of the Semi-Final night - and furthermore it was a bigger surprise to see them make it inside the top ten of the Final - even if it was by the skin of their teeth (2 points between 10th place Ireland and 11th place Turkey).  Initially, I wasn't that impressed with the performance in the Semi - the male backing singer looked like he was dressed as a priest and all the men on stage weren't really the eye candy you now need to make an impression at Eurovision.  The presentation of the song on both nights was very Irish, making good use of green stage lighting.  Brian sung very well, and his vocal talents were enough to give the song that extra 'oomph' that it needed to lift it and make it stand out.  I didn't like his little acrobatic vocal at the end, I think that would have been much nicer kept in the same octave as the rest of the song.  All in all Ireland did well, surprisingly well in fact, and it will be good to see them directly qualified to the Final in 2007.  My prediction turned out to be wrong initially, but I did then say that they would get a middle of the road position in the Final (10th-12th) - so I guess that all collectively counts as a right and wrong!