WHILE THE NETHERLANDS were celebrating victory at this year’s Eurovision, statistics revealed by the organisers have shown that Ireland got the lowest number of votes in the two semi-finals in the 2019 contest.
Sarah McTernan performed the song 22 in the second semi-final on Thursday but failed to make it to Saturday’s final with the lowest score for any country at this round.
With three points from the UK, five from Moldova and eight from Italy, Ireland’s 16 points was 78 points behind the lowest-placed qualifier Denmark in Thursday’s semi-final.
It was the lowest in either semi-final and matched the UK’s 16 points in the final.
Speaking about the voting breakdown, head of the Irish Delegation Michael Kealy said the grand final results showed that Ireland had a particularly difficult heat.
“Naturally we were disappointed to see the results – especially when we know how talented our act Sarah McTernan is and how hard she and the team have worked over the past few months to prepare for this year’s contest in Tel Aviv,” he said.
We were drawn in a particularly tough semi-final this year, seven of the top ten acts on the grand final leaderboard were all involved in our second semi final on Thursday.
In Saturday’s final – between televoters and points from the Irish jury – we awarded Norway 18 points, 17 to Switzerland and 16 to The Netherlands.
Sweden proved far more popular with the jury than those ringing in to vote, however, and was awarded the full 12 points.
The Netherlands’ Duncan Laurence, who had been favourite, won the contest with his piano-based power ballad Arcade.
A source of controversy at this year’s Eurovision – held in Israel – occurred when members of Icelandic group Hatari had banners featuring the Palestine flag confiscated from them at the venue after they flashed them at TV cameras during the voting segment.
With reporting from Daragh Brophy
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