Score one for the boys! Ireland’s Junior Eurovision Éire 2016 kicked off tonight with its first semi final. In the end, Dublin local Walter McCabe earned the first ticket to the Irish Junior Eurovision 2016 final.
Walter McCabe — Las Do Sholas
This first semi final showcased eight of Ireland’s most talented young songwriters and performers. All singers were required to sing in Irish, the country’s official language next to English.
The selection is set to contain four semi finals and one grand final. Each week a new guest judge will join permanent jury members Fiachna Ó Braonáin and Pauline Avalon.
These guest judges will all be former Eurovision participants, including Dustin the Turkey, Sandie Jones, Linda Martin and Niamh Kavanagh. Then there were tonight’s guest judges — Jedward!
Dancing along with the songs, the twins showed their Jedward-ness once again. Of course, that meant sometimes they even forgot that they had to comment on the song. Instead, they told the audience how jepic it would have been if there was an opportunity like this, when they were as young as the contestants.
From tonight’s acts, the jury panel chose Hannah McNicholas Roche‘s country-tinged “Titim as a Chéile” and Walter McCabe‘s “Las Do Sholas” as the two best songs. After a final sing-off, the judges chose to send Walter through over Hannah. Walter will now proceed to the final stage of the selection, set to take place on November 6th.
The winner there will succeed Aimee Banks as the second representative of Ireland, at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Malta this November. During Ireland’s first Junior Eurovision attempt, the country finished in 12th place with the song “Réalta Na Mara” (“Star of The Sea”).
Junior Eurovision Éire 2016 returns next weekend with the second semi final. What do you think of tonight’s decision? Was Walter the right decision to go through? Let us know in the comments section!
Beautiful language.
I shall repeat again, I understand why some people want more boys at Junior Eurovision. Who knows? Walter could win Ireland’s selection altogether. 🙂