Tuam’s Brendan Murray will take to the stage in Kiev tonight as he bids to become Ireland’s first Eurovision finalist since 2013.
The former Hometown member, who achieved three number one singles in Ireland, will be performing Dying To Try and he is expected to take to the stage around 8.45pm.
Murray will be participating in tonight’s semi-final with 17 other contestants in the Ukrainian capital’s International Stage Centre, hoping that he will be among the 10 qualifiers for Saturday’s final.
Ireland have failed to qualify for the final since Malmo 2013 when Ryan Dolan and his ballad Only Love Survives finished bottom of the pile with five points.
The bookies do not hold out much hope for the County Galway man with Paddy Power offering odds of 7/4; the third worst in the semi-final.
Murray’s participation has caused controversy with Per Sundnes, the former head of the Norway delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest saying Ireland had “lost it completely” when it came to the song contest.
In a segment where judges ranked all the songs at this year’s competition, Sundnes awarded Murray the lowest rank of one point; the only country to receive the low rating.
Sundnes has since been replaced by Erland Bakke due to a breach of juror rules.
The semi-final will be broadcast live on RTE 2 at 8pm tonight.
