Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Eurosong 2015 was the national final format developed by RTÉ in order to select Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The competition was held on 27 February 2015 at the Studio 4 of RTÉ in Dublin, hosted by Ryan Tubridy and broadcast on RTÉ One during a special edition of The Late Late Show.[3] The show was also broadcast online via RTÉ's official website rte.ie.[4]

On 13 October 2014, RTÉ opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries for the competition until 31 October 2014.[2] At the closing of the deadline, over 300 entries were received. The competing entries were selected through two phases involving two separate jury panels with members appointed by RTÉ; the first phase involved the first jury reviewing all of the submissions and shortlisting 40 to 50 entries, while the second phase involved the second jury selecting the five finalists.[5][6] The finalists were presented on 9 February 2015 during The Ray D'Arcy Show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.[7]

The national final took place on 27 February 2015 and featured guest performances from Niamh Kavanagh, Paul Harrington and Linda Martin as well as commentary from a panel that consisted of Martin, composer Phil Coulter, presenter Mairead Farrell and drag artist Panti Bliss. Following the 50/50 combination of votes from five regional juries and public televoting, "Playing with Numbers" performed by Molly Sterling was selected as the winner.[8]

Molly Sterling during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Molly Sterling took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 16 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury show on 20 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[15]

The Irish performance featured Molly Sterling performing together with two backing vocalists, a drummer, a bassist and a cellist who also performed backing vocals. The LED screens displayed a sunlit countryside scene in light brown colours.[16][17] The backing vocalists that joined Molly Sterling on stage were Jessica Supple and Naomi Clarke, while the three musicians were: Jimmy Rainsford (drums), Darren Sweeney (bass) and Póilín Lynch (cello).[18]

At the end of the show, Ireland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.[19] It was later revealed that Ireland placed twelfth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 35 points.[20]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[21]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Ireland had placed sixteenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the second semi-final. In the public vote, Ireland scored 14 points, while with the jury vote, Ireland scored 84 points.[22]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ireland and awarded by Ireland in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following five members comprised the Irish jury:[21]

• Raymond Smyth (jury chairperson) – composer, songwriter
• Bláthnaid Treacy – music/entertainment presenter
• Ryan Dolan – singer, songwriter, represented Ireland in the 2013 contest
• Ann Harrington – singer, songwriter
• Ray Harman – songwriter, composer, musician

Detailed voting results from Ireland (Semi-final 2)[25]

Draw	Country	R. Smyth	B. Treacy	R. Dolan	A. Harrington	R. Harman	Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Points
01	Lithuania	2	7	16	7	10	8	1	4	7
02	Ireland
03	San Marino	3	16	12	15	16	15	16	16
04	Montenegro	4	9	13	16	13	13	14	14
05	Malta	5	2	2	5	9	4	12	8	3
06	Norway	16	8	6	4	4	6	7	7	4
07	Portugal	14	14	14	11	15	16	10	13
08	Czech Republic	6	6	4	10	12	7	11	10	1
09	Israel	1	3	8	2	8	3	5	3	8
10	Latvia	11	1	1	6	2	2	3	1	12
11	Azerbaijan	13	15	9	9	11	14	15	15
12	Iceland	10	12	5	12	7	9	9	9	2
13	Sweden	12	4	3	1	1	1	4	2	10
14	Switzerland	7	11	7	13	14	12	13	12
15	Cyprus	15	5	11	3	3	5	6	5	6
16	Slovenia	9	13	15	8	5	11	8	11
17	Poland	8	10	10	14	6	10	2	6	5

Detailed voting results from Ireland (Final)[26]

Draw	Country	R. Smyth	B. Treacy	R. Dolan	A. Harrington	R. Harman	Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Points
01	Slovenia	10	27	24	3	2	11	20	16
02	France	11	11	19	21	26	19	25	24
03	Israel	27	9	9	17	13	15	12	12
04	Estonia	8	26	26	22	19	23	9	17
05	United Kingdom	12	22	7	6	21	13	11	10	1
06	Armenia	21	23	27	27	27	27	27	27
07	Lithuania	3	13	13	8	8	8	1	4	7
08	Serbia	13	24	15	23	20	21	14	21
09	Norway	4	18	6	7	6	5	16	7	4
10	Sweden	9	2	4	2	1	1	5	2	10
11	Cyprus	2	8	12	9	11	6	18	11
12	Australia	26	4	3	5	5	7	8	6	5
13	Belgium	25	3	11	11	24	14	10	9	2
14	Austria	16	5	20	16	9	10	22	19
15	Greece	19	21	25	20	17	25	26	26
16	Montenegro	18	14	22	26	10	20	23	23
17	Germany	20	17	16	18	4	16	19	22
18	Poland	14	20	21	19	22	22	2	8	3
19	Latvia	15	1	1	1	3	2	3	1	12
20	Romania	22	16	17	24	23	24	7	14
21	Spain	23	19	8	15	15	18	13	15
22	Hungary	6	15	14	14	18	12	17	13
23	Georgia	17	12	18	13	16	17	15	18
24	Azerbaijan	5	10	10	12	14	9	24	20
25	Russia	1	7	2	10	7	3	4	3	8
26	Albania	24	25	23	25	25	26	21	25
27	Italy	7	6	5	4	12	4	6	5	6