This week we’re going to look at a country that dominated the contest throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, a country that has been the most successful at Eurovision – surely you know it, it’s Ireland! Although they have won the most out of any country, we’re only taking the last 10 years, which wasn’t Ireland’s most successful time, but we want to find out which is the best of the bunch! So let’s go through the last 10 years, and remember to vote in our poll at the end!
In 2006, Ireland send Brian Kennedy to Eurovision, with the song Every Song is a Cry for Love, which only just scraped through to the final with 76 points, but then ended up in 10th place in the final!
In the following year, as Brian achieved a top 10 place, Ireland was automatically in the final. The nation sent Dervish with the song They Can’t Stop The Spring, however the audience didn’t appreciate the song on the night, ending up in last place with only 5 points.
The next year, Ireland sent quite an interesting act. Dustin the Turkey was the singer, if we can call him that. And yes, it was a Turkey…. Puppet. The song was Irelande Douze Points and that was in no way foreseeing the future because Dustin was 15th in the semi-final with 22 points.
In 2009 Ireland took a more serious approach and sent Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy with the song Et Cetera, however again missed out on the final, but this time, only just, reaching 11th place with 52 points.
2010 was when things started to pick up again for Ireland, slowly but surely. Previous winner Niamh Kavanagh returned to the contest with It’s for You, and inched into the final at 9th place, but then didn’t make too much of an impact on the field. She ended up in 23rd place, but hey, it was an improvement!
In 2011, we saw Jedward on the Eurovision stage. The crazy twins dazzled us with the upbeat song Lipstick, and ended up in the top 10 once again, finishing in 8th place.
The following year, Jedward returned with a desire to win. The song was a bit calmer (only just a bit) than Lipstick, and was called Waterline. They ended up in 19th place, far away from the win. Maybe it was because they didn’t have their signature high hair…
In 2013 Ireland decided that someone else should have the chance to represent the nation, and they chose Ryan Dolan with the upbeat pop song Only Love Survives. The extravagance of the stage performance however was not enough to pull it into a better position than the previous year, and in fact, ended up in last place in the final with 5 points.
2014 was another challenging year for the champion nation, who had seemingly fallen into a slump. Through national final, the Irish public chose Can-Linn ft. Kasey Smith with the song Heartbeat. Despite being a fan favourite, the performance on the night just didn’t cut it with the international audiences. The song failed to qualify, ending up in 12th place in the semi.
Molly Sterling, the participant for 2015 faced a similar fate, where she was chosen by the Irish public, received fan support however ended up in 12th place in the semi just like in the previous year, and also with the same amount of points!
And now we’ve reached the end of our journey through the last 10 years of Irish participation. To vote, click on your favourites down below and let us know what you think of the songs down below, or through our facebook or twitter!