Ireland’s Eurovision entry Brendan Murray performed at the semi-final in Ukraine tonight.
In the song contest’s second semi-final, the former Hometown star sang Dying To Try in a bid to land a place in the Grand Final on Saturday in the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest.
Unfortunately, after artists from 18 different countries performed on the night, Brendan failed to make it into the final 10 – and has therefore not qualified for the final on Saturday night.
Although Ireland has been notoriously unlucky in the Eurovision since last winning in 1996, we still hold the title of most successful country to compete in the contest so far.
Did us proud: Brendan performed on a hot air balloon prop | ANDRES POVEDA
The news comes after a Eurovision juror was replaced during the week due to “a breach in juror rules” following comments he made about Ireland’s entry.
Norwegian juror, Per Sundnes, made the comments on the official countdown show ahead of the Eurovision semi final on Tuesday night.
Suggesting that he had negative preconceptions about Ireland’s entry, the juror allegedly said that Ireland have “lost it completely” when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest.
According to Independent.ie, a statement from Eurovision read, “Per Sundnes, who was part of the Norwegian jury, has been placed with Erland Bakke due to a breach in juror rules.”
Unlucky: Ireland didn’t make it through to the final once again | ANDRES POVEDA
Per Sundnes also gave Ireland entry Brendan Murray’s song Dying To Try the lowest rank of one point when ranking all of the Eurovision songs this year.
Speaking about the replacement, Irish Head of Delegation Michael Kealy said, “I’m glad that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have reacted swiftly to this situation and that all jury members are impartial.
“It’s only fair that each song in the Eurovision Song Contest is judged on its individual merits on the night.”
