Ireland, one of the grand old nations of the Eurovision Song Contest, must be looking over its shoulder nervously. If bookies’ favourite Måns Zelmerlöw really does take the victory at ESC 2015, Sweden will be just one behind the self-proclaimed “home of Eurovision” in the all-time winner charts. There’s little to suggest that the Emerald Isle has many weapons in its armoury to combat the Swedish onslaught, having racked up four non-qualifications in the semi-final era, and with Jedward and Brian Kennedy’s low top ten finishes providing the few rays of light in its recent Eurovision record.

Attack is the best form of defence, though, and it is 17-year-old Molly Sterling who will fly the Irish flag in Vienna. She won the national final as a real outsider with the bookmakers (my bank manager extends his personal thanks to everyone who forgot that Nikki Kavanagh can’t actually sing), and despite some local appearances and experience, ESC will be far and away the biggest challenge in her musical career to date.

Her song, Playing With Numbers, is a ballad. Not surprisingly for Ireland, one might say – but this is neither a traditional Eurovision heartstring-tugger nor an ethnically tinged number full of fiddles, whistles and drums. Instead, the listener is instantly reminded of predominantly acoustic singer-songwriters like Jewel, in terms of both the arrangement and Molly’s tone of voice. It’s a genre that seems to pop up in national finals around Europe quite often, but rarely actually make it to ESC.

My verdict is that I’m hugely pleased and relieved to actively like an Irish entry again. And an Irish ballad, no less! My main concern is with how this will be staged. As we know, the Late Late Show format that serves as the vehicle for the Irish final has a pretty hopeless studio in terms of acoustics, so I expect the vocal blend between Molly and her backing vocalists to be much better in Vienna. What’s more important is for her to find some cameras, and hopefully that’s an area where a few more months of experience will have helped her. It is an introspective song and doesn’t need to be accompanied by Rona Nishliu-style histrionics, but some kind of connection with the viewer will be vital from such an early starting position in the semi-final.

If she can get out of the semi, I genuinely consider this to be one of the most contemporary entries in the entire 2015 contest, and juries should reward that if they’re being true to their remit. At the very least, the second successive Molly to represent a nation from the British Isles could easily end up in a similar position on the scoreboard to her British counterpart last year – and I’m not ruling out a top ten finish either. That semi-final hurdle is a tricky one, though…

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