The Irish Eurovision selection process for 2015 has been top secret thus far, and so it remains. Despite claims by a poster on the ESC Nation message boards, the five Eurosong finalists have NOT been leaked. The poster, simply called “Brendan”, outlined the contents of a press release which he claimed RTÉ were set to publish on Wednesday. However, the RTÉ Press Office has confirmed to wiwibloggs that a press release hasn’t even been written yet, so couldn’t have been leaked. When asked for comment on the purported release they added:

No comment – we’ll announce finalists officially in coming weeks.

So the leak appears to be a false alarm but it did contain some rather interesting names. And as y’all know by now, we love a bit of speculation here at wiwibloggs. Let’s take a look at the five acts which were named. Should any of these be included in the official press release whenever it’s published?

Hometown

Josh Grey, Dean Gibbons, Brendan Murray, Cian Morrin, Dayl Cronin and Ryan McLoughlin – collectively known as Hometown – are the latest act to emerge from the Louis Walsh pop factory. Since their official launch on Ireland’s biggest chat show last May, they’ve already knocked Ed Sheeran off the number one spot and stolen the hearts of Ireland’s teeny boppers. With Walsh’s know-how and experience – he’s responsible for Westlife, Boyzone, Linda Martin, Johnny Logan and Jedward – and cheek bones to die for, they could prove to be an unstoppable force. Oh, and their singing isn’t too bad either – think the Vamps via One Direction’s stylists.

Liir

There’s more manufactured pop in the form of Liir, a girl band put together especially for Eurovision. Some of you may recognise Leanne Moore; she competed in Eurosong 2010 and provided backing vocals for Jedward and Ryan Dolan at Eurovision. Now she’s joined by Voice of Ireland finalist Kim Hayden and singer cum model Michele McGrath. While relatively successful as individuals, they are completely untested as a trio. Their entry is written by Alan Earls, the man behind Johnny Logan’s first top ten hit in 26 years, so the signs are good.

 

Ryan O’Shaughnessy

The child actor turned pop star is no stranger to singing competitions. He competed in both the Voice Of Ireland and Britain’s Got Talent in 2012, causing a whole load of drama when both shows clashed. (Un)luckily for him he was eliminated during the first live show of the Voice, enabling him to continue on to the final of BGT. Afterwards he released an EP which cracked the top ten in both Ireland and the UK, and two singles. He also appeared on the Irish version of The Hit. If he does make it to Eurovision, he’ll be hoping to do better than his Uncle Gary, who came third from bottom in 2001 with “Without Your Love”.

Rachael McCormack

A complete unknown, Rachel McCormack’s biggest claim to fame according to her website would seem to be an appearance on TV3’s now cancelled The Morning Show. She’s toured with X Factor’s Mary Byrne and released a handful of singles, none of which have troubled the charts.

Ryan Dolan

The final member of the five is a man who needs no introduction on these pages – Ryan Dolan. He represented Ireland in 2013, coming last in the Grand Final with “Only Love Survives”. In the interim he publicly came out as gay and released two autobiographical singles – “Start Again” and “Fall To The Floor”. This time round he’s taking no chances, and has recruited the song writing team behind Sweden’s Fame in 2003 and Spain’s Pastora Soler in 2012.

Update:

Rachael McCormack has taken to Twitter to deny being a Eurosong finalist:

YOU CAN FOLLOW ALL OF OUR IRELAND EUROVISION 2015 NEWS HERE.

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Deven O'Kearney
Deven O'Kearney
9 years ago

Despite healthy viewing figures for Eurovision year on year, the true Eurovision magic has been missing in Ireland for quite some time. But I think this year me might just regain our magic and true love for Eurovision and even though the finalists were accidentally leaked, it IS an indicator of the calibre of songs that have been selected, the profile of some of the acts in Eurosong 2015 and EVEN the demograph of the viewers watching this year. As Just Being Honest said. But while an all celebrity lineup is great, it would be nice to have one or… Read more »

Just being honest
Just being honest
9 years ago

A boyband, girlband, hearthrob and a hippy girl with a guitar. Throw them together and what do we get? Looks like a lot of young demograph will be watching this year’s Irish national selection 🙂

Farron
Farron
9 years ago

Please Ireland, not a boy band, PLEASE

Deven O'Kearney
Deven O'Kearney
9 years ago

I think that if we see:

HomeTown
LIIR
Ryan Dolan
Coco de Aine
Ryan O’Shaughnessy

We could have a very strong national final. But even if the lineup leaked yesterday was somewhat accurate, as Robyn said, it is a new, fresh and current top 5 in Eurosong without the fiddle Dee dee. I think I’m excited for Ireland and RTE’s chances. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Stevie
9 years ago

Well this is promising. Even if it’s just an indication of the quality of acts being put forward for Eurosong then I’m happy.

I can’t help but think RTE would be better off having a longer shortlist though. Maybe 10 songs that could be shortlisted by 2fm listeners or something.

Anyway, I’m excited to hear the five chosen. Would live to see Ireland return to the top of the leaderboard this year.

ESCFan
ESCFan
9 years ago

I like Ryan Dolan!

Thiago
Thiago
9 years ago

I still don’t understand how Ryan Dolan finished last in that year’s Eurovision

Ron
Ron
9 years ago

Rachael McCormack is definitely out (she denied it herself) and it looks like Ryan Dolan is too.

The other three look plausible though, especially Liir – they’ve been formed for Eurosong and are very active on social media at the moment.

Realist
Realist
9 years ago

no comment… that doesn’t mean they said no, but doesn’t mean they’ve said yes either, i highly doubt any NF even the irish one would have a NF completely filled with big acts, they would have one or two young talents e.g coco de aine. id love hometown as they have serious potential plus I’ve seen them sing there first single in the crappy RTE studio and they nailed it even with the bad acoustics.

Realist
Realist
9 years ago

if this is the line up and it was in a good venue -not the crappy rte studio- then this could potentially be one of the top 5 NF of the year if not the best, unless all the songs suck which surely can’t be true or else they wouldn’t be picked 🙂

davved
davved
9 years ago

I hope that some of it is true atleast.

Easpag
Easpag
9 years ago

If these rumour prove to be true, I’m interested to see what Liir and Rachel McCormack bring to the table.

Deven O'Kearney
Deven O'Kearney
9 years ago

If this was the final lineup, I’d be very excited. But it’s HomeTown, LIIR and Ryan Dolan I am most excited about. I think if we send HomeTown to Vienna (provided they are actually in Eurosong), I hope they have a really good, solid, genuine and catchy song with sing along and clap along quality and meticulous staging, I think we could have something amazing going on. Also, even though we have had a lot of boy bands, they have been more like coldplay(E.G. Softengine, A Friend in London ETC.). But not a One Direction style boyband, like HomeTown. So,… Read more »

Calum Macleod
Calum Macleod
9 years ago

I’m entrigued to see what Liir will bring to the selection if they’re one of the finalists.

SteKay
SteKay
9 years ago

Being from Ireland I would be extremely surprised if Louis Walsh entered Hometown to Eurovision….these acts all seem too known idk! Patiently waiting

Fanny
Fanny
9 years ago

It would be so great to see Ryan with a great ballad!