Marty Whelan has revealed whether he thinks Ireland stand a chance at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The 67th annual music competition will be held in Liverpool between May 9 to 13.
There are six hopefuls vying to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision – Wild Youth, Public Image Limited, ADGY, CONNOLLY, Leila Jane and K Muni & ND, Kofi Appiah and Nevlonne Dampare.
The six acts will battle it out during The Late Late Show’s Eurosong special on Friday night.
The winner, who will be chosen at the end of the show, will go on to represent Ireland at the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.
Speaking exclusively to Goss.ie ahead of the Eurosong special, Marty revealed whether he thought any of this year’s hopefuls could go all the way for Ireland.
“The thing about the people who are on this year is how different the songs are. One is not anything like the other. It’s astonishing how different they are.”
Marty continued: “So, for me it would be wonderful if maybe something unusual went forward, but who’s to say. They’re very different.”
“Also, don’t forget that we have a full audience, we have people voting at home, we have a jury here, we’ve a jury internationally – so that’s going to give it a whole other vibe.”
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what song comes out. Quite frankly, whatever the song is, you kind of go ‘Okay, that’s what it is,’ because there’s no formula.”
Pic: Brian McEvoy
“People keep asking me ‘What’s the formula?’ There’s no formula – if there was a formula we’d win every time. It’d just be easy. There isn’t.”
Marty concluded: “So, therefore you take the song you have and hope to God it’s good enough to get us through to the final, because we have to get through a semi-final which is soul-destroying, but there we are. It has to be done.”
Having first entered the song contest back in 1965, Ireland has bagged a record seven Eurovision victories.
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Unfortunately, the country hasn’t won since 1996, and failed to qualify for the grand final last year with Brooke Scullion.
The Late Late Show’s Eurosong special will determine who will represent Ireland at the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.
The special will air tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ One.
