Ireland are back to a National final format they ditched back in 2015 after another blow to Irish Eurovision pride. Excepting one of Jedward's two entries it is 2006 since Ireland were last in the top ten at Eurovision.
The Late Late Show Eurosong special is a minefield to punt on. It was previously home to performances so lacklustre visually the one I remember most used office chairs (I wish I could pretend from 2009). There's often a panel of experts who will comment and sway opinion X Factor style which has a notorious reputation for creating embarrassing dramatic moments (think the gobshite incident of 2014). There's also the disastrous acoustics meaning most singers will sound awful.
In tipping I'm looking for a song that should be easy and charming to perform. In that I'm surprised by the long odds of Brendan Murray, best priced at 13s. The 2017 entrant was poor in Kyiv but this song suits his fabulously angelic voice well and reminds me of the 2015 winner 'Playing With Numbers' for style. This sounds like the kind of ballad that resonates to the Late Late Show setting so well.
That's in contrast to one of the two front runners, Brooke Scallion with 'That's Rich'. Contrary to fan opinion I think this is noisy and will work terribly in the Friday night talk show setting. That said running order favours this, last in a weak second half with a schlager crescendo beforehand, and I note the shout outs from Meghan Trainor and others, so maybe some staging budget too. There is a jury here though and this is not jury material. 3.25 before running order came out, now shorter. .
Drawn 2nd but the early favourite was 'Ashes of Yesterday'. The descriptions of this being a slowed down version of 'Move' by The Mamas are accurate. Now that song was excellently sung and this sounds like a song that should be easy to perform. It does need a 'vote-for-me' moment though that the live version needs to conjure up. I don't think we will get any rehearsal info on the ground in Ireland so we will need to gamble a wee bit here.
There are two tips from me. Brendan Murray at long odds to charm through a crowd that will falter, and Ireland not to qualify. Yes Ireland has got an amazing draw in the 2nd half of the on paper more fair semi 2, but one definitely expects better songs will come and Ireland's recent record is woeful. 1.8 is available with Betway. (2.1 to qualify)
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