TG4 has just broadcast the second heat of the Irish national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The show featured seven candidates but only Alison Mc Grath and Caoimhe McBride will compete at the semi-final.
These are the seven entrants that performed at today’s show:
- Abair hello le
- Nikki Little
- Alison Mc Grath (Qualifier 1)
- Cairde Ceolmhaire
- Katie Healy (3rd)
- Rachel Kennedy
- Sophie Whelan
- Caoimhe McBride (Qualifier 2 – sign-off winner)
Today’s qualifiers were decided by a professional jury panel, made up of Gráinne Bleasdale, Chris Greene, and this week’s guest judge Paul Harrington, who represented Ireland at Eurovision 1994. The experts rated the performances from 0 to 10 stars and the top 1 automatically qualified for the semi-final. Then, a sing-off decided the second qualifier after a new voting procedure that included ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.
Remember that this year’s edition is only aimed to select who will sing for Ireland at Junior Eurovision 2019 as the song will be chosen internally by the broadcaster. That’s why Junior Eurovision Éire is being broadcast earlier than ever.
Next week, the Irish national selection will continue with the second heat, another seven candidates and a new guest judge, Jedward (Eurovision 2011 and 2012).
What do you think about today’s qualifiers? Who was your favourite?