Ireland: Ryan O’Shaughnessy – Together

Felix: I expected worse. Someone (I can’t remember who it was) complained about Ireland being dull, so my expectations were quite low before I listened to it for the first time, but then I was kind of relieved: It’s not another “Millennium Of Love”. It’s actually a quite nice, unexcited, unpretentious ballad. The bad news is it’s so unspectacularly “quite nice” that I hardly have to say anything about it and tend to fall asleep instead.

Which I just did. Hi again.

The big advantage for Ireland is its draw. Songs that are “just” quite nice might pop into the final from the second-last position in the running order – but even if that happens, I can’t see more than 20th place in the final for Ryan and his song.

Martin: I tend to agree that its final chances are limited, but I think it has a fine chance of qualifying, and that would already be a victory for the Irish after the failures of recent years. It’s a lovely song with some actual substance behind it; the falsetto vocals are my only real worry.

Shi: My main concern was all those high notes too, but his performances have shown me he’s comfortable singing his song, and it has been working very well live. I think it’s set up for a qualification which I initially didn’t see coming, but in the final it will depend on where it’s placed and how it comes across. It could be a Tom Dice or a Re-Union, really.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv