Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019


Ireland was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, held in Gliwice, Poland, with the song "Banshee" performed by Anna Kearney. The singer was selected though a national final organized by TG4 that between September 1 and October 6. The song was selected internally after Anna Kearney had been selected. This was Ireland's fifth appearance at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Background

Prior to the 2019 contest, Ireland had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest four times since its debut in. TG4 previously attempted to participate at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014, but required funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which was rejected.
In the 2018 contest, Taylor Hynes represented country in Minsk, Belarus with the song "IOU". He ended 15th out of 20 entries with 48 points.

Before Junior Eurovision

''Junior Eurovision Éire''

Heat 1

The participants in heat 1 were revealed on 26 August 2019, with the episode airing on 1 September.
DrawArtistSong ResultNumber of stars
01Anna Kearney"Symphony" Final Duel25
02Mollie Kennedy"Stay with Me" Eliminated22
03Aoife McNelis"Always" Final Duel24
04Arabella Dolan"Take Me to Church" Semi-Final26
05Ciara McShane"Take My Hand" Eliminated18
06Joya & Priya"Wake Me Up" Eliminated21
07Riaghan Boardman"Shotgun" Eliminated19

Anna Kearney and Aoife McNelis both advanced to the final duel stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Anna as the winner of this episode, while Arabella was selected to advance to the semi-final.

Heat 2

The participants for heat 2 were revealed on 7 September 2019.
DrawArtistSong ResultNumber of stars
01Caoimhe McBride"September Song" Final Duel23
02Alison McGrath"Ghost" Semi-Final28
03Sophie Whelan"Speeding Cars" Eliminated22
04Katie Healy"Feel It Again" Final Duel25
05Nikki Little"Illuminate" Eliminated19
06Rachel Kennedy"Shape of You" Eliminated20
07Cairde Ceolmhaire"Catch & Release" Eliminated19

Caoimhe McBride and Katie Healy both advanced to the final duel stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Caoimhe as the winner of this episode, while Alison was selected to advance to the semi-final.

Heat 3

The participants for heat 3 were revealed on 13 September 2019.
DrawArtistSong ResultNumber of stars
01Seisear Séieseach"When We Were Young" Final Duel25
02Grace Lauhoff"Thinking Out Loud" Eliminated22
03Katie O'Connor"Counting to Sleep" Eliminated23
04Lauren Doherty"IDGAF" Eliminated22
05Isabelle Moore"Falling Slowly" Final Duel24
06Savannah Phoenix-Munroe"Lullaby" Semi-Final26
07Daniel Ryan"Nervous" Eliminated21

Seisear Séieseach and Isabelle Moore both advanced to the final duel stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Seisear as the winner of this episode, while Savannah was selected to advance to the semi-final.

Heat 4

The participants for heat 4 were revealed on 22 September 2019.
DrawArtistSong ResultNumber of stars
01Skye Murphy Darrer"Chandelier" Final Duel27
02Molly Verider-Cassidy"The Cup Song" Eliminated23
03Orla McDermott"Linger" Semi-Final30
04Fionn and Roisin Vigors"Teenage Dirtbag" Eliminated21
05Rachel Hoey"We Couldn't Fake It" Eliminated20
06Rebecca Cronin"Perfect" Final Duel25
07Sophie Bao Garrahy"I Won't Worry" Eliminated23

Skye Murphy Darrer and Rebecca Cronin both advanced to the final duel stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Skye as the winner of this episode, while Orla was selected to advance to the semi-final.

Semi-final

The semi-final aired on 29 September 2019.
DrawArtistSong Result
01Anna Kearney"This Is Me" Finalist
02Alison McGrath"Stay with Me" Final Duel
03Caoimhe McBride"Waiting for Love" Eliminated
04Seisear Séiseach"Pompeii" Eliminated
05Savannah Phoenix-Munroe"Circle of Life" Finalist
06Arabella Dolan"Friday I'm in Love" Eliminated
07Orla McDermott"Hold Back the River" Final Duel
08Skye Murphy Darrer"Shake It Off" Eliminated

Anna Kearney and Savannah Phoenix-Munroe were announced as the first two finalists. Alison McGrath and Orla McDermott both advanced to the final duel stage and performed their covers a second time. After their second performances, the jury members selected Orla as the last finalist.

Final

The final aired on 6 October 2019.
ArtistDrawHeat/Semi-Final Song DrawESC Winning Song Result
Anna Kearney01"Symphony" 04"Why Me?" Final Duel
Orla McDermott02"Linger" 05"Rock 'n' Roll Kids" Eliminated
Savannah Phoenix-Munroe03"Circle of Life" 06"Hold Me Now" Final Duel

;Final Duel
DrawArtistHeat/Semi-Final Song Result
01Anna Kearney"Symphony" Winner
02Savannah Phoenix-Munroe"Circle of Life" Eliminated

Artist and song information

Anna Kearney

Anna Kearney is an Irish child singer. She represented Ireland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Banshee". She was born in Dublin, but she currently lives in Foxrock. Her mother, Eileen, was a performer in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 as part of the interval act Riverdance. Shortly after the contest, Kearney opened the 2019 Late Late Toy Show.

Banshee

"Banshee" is a song by Irish singer Anna Kearney. It represented Ireland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019. After Anna Kearney had been selected to represent Ireland, TG4 contacted Niall Mooney and Jonas Gladnikoff, who had previously been responsible for the 2015 and 2018 Irish Junior Eurovision entries, to write the song. The song was also co-written by Cyprian Cassar and Daniel Caruana, with lyrics by Anna Banks, Fiachna Ó Braonáin as well as Anna Kearney.

At Junior Eurovision

During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which both took place on 18 November 2019, Ireland was drawn to perform twelfth on 24 November 2019, following Poland and preceding Ukraine.

Voting

ScoreCountry
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