Eurovision 2017 Draw: Bad News For Ireland

The draw for the 2017 Eurovision semi-finals has taken place in the host city of Kyiv in Ukraine, and already there is disappointment for Ireland.

This year, Ireland's entry will be performed by Hometown band member Brendan Murray, who is managed by Ireland’s pop guru and X-Factor judge, Louis Walsh. According to reports, in excess of 300 songs were submitted ahead of the closing date for entries earlier this month. Murray’s manager, Louis Walsh (pictured with Philomena Lynott), will now listen to all songs received, along with an RTÉ-appointed panel – and between them, they will choose the song to represent Ireland at the Eurovision contest.

The bad news today was that Ireland has been drawn in the second semi-final, which will take place on Thursday May 11, a night on which 19 countries will take part. Ireland will be competing against strong countries like Russia, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Malta, Serbia, Romania and Austria. Only ten songs from each semi-final progress to the final, which takes place on Saturday, May 13.

The draw has also contrived to deprive Ireland of the potential support of the United Kingdom, who have been slated to vote in the first semi-final on this occasion. The UK, along with the other countries that make up the so-called 'Big Five’, automatically qualify for the final but are allowed to vote in only one of the semi-finals. The host nation, Ukraine also get a bye into the final.

While being neighbours shouldn’t matter a damn, increasingly in recent years, near neighbouring countries have conspicuously supported one another – much to the disadvantage of Ireland, which in effect has only one ‘neighbour’ at the competition.

Whether as a result of this growing bias, or otherwise, Ireland has failed to qualify for the final for the past three years, despite the fact that we have won more Eurovisions than any other country.

"I'm honoured and excited to be representing Ireland in Kyiv in the biggest music competition in the world,” Brendan Murray has said. "I was born in 1996, the last time Ireland won – so I hope that will bring me luck!”

Somehow, one doubts it.