Donegal hopefuls Leila Jane and ADGY do themselves proud at Eurovision qualifiers

Donegal’s Eurovision hopefuls were out of luck in their quest to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool in May.

The Late Late Show Eurosong Special was won by Dublin band ‘Wild Youth’, with ‘We are One’, having topped the national jury and the public phone vote.

The Donegal entrants were first and second up on stage on the Late Late Show on Friday night with Leila Jane Keeney, followed by Andrew Carr, known as ADGY, from Gaoth Dobhair.

Leila Jane’s ‘Wild’ was described as a "song that represents being comfortable with who you are, being self-reliant, but it is also a female empowerment song.”

Opera singer Celine Byrne on the panel of experts described the performance as "brilliant" and that Leila had "made Ireland proud". Gemma Bradley, radio presenter and singer-songwriter, declared: "What a start - there was a lot of energy there!"

Edward, one half of Jedward added: "I think it could grow for her. I do think she needs more confidence and passion in her eyes."

ADGY’s ‘Too Good for Your Love’ was initially written as a piano ballad during lockdown and he had said “it's my dream to perform live on stage in front of a large audience, and I hope to do more of that this year".

Of the song, singer-songwriter RuthAnne Cunningham "I love the use of Gaeilge in it. I think that was really clever, cool and different,” while Gemma Bradley added “we have a bit of a banger there - I loved the performance of it. I wanted to get up and dance."

Jedward agreed, with brothers John and Edward adding that the song “is a dancefloor banger but he needs to believe in himself all the way to the end."

The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place in the Liverpool Arena on Saturday May 13, with the semi-finals on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11.