Young Derry girl makes it through to the final of major All-Ireland talent competition

A young Derry girl has made it through to the final of a major talent competition.

Nine-year-old Cora Harkin is through to the All-Ireland final of nation-wide singing competition Teenstars Ireland.

The final will take place in the Red Cow Hotel in Dublin on Saturday, June 24.

Cora first made an impression back in January when she performed Alessia Cara’s How Far I’ll Go.

This was in the competition’s ‘show case’ heat, which was a none-competitive performance and an opportunity for the contestants to familiarise with the competition format and to meet each other and the competition organisers.

In these early stages Cora only competed against acts from Leinster.

There were two heats in the first round in which Cora sang Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On followed by Idina Menzel’s Frozen.

The best score was taken from these two performances and this was enough for Cora to secure a place in the Leinster semi-final.

There, Cora again impressed judges and the audience with Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked.

Cora delivered an outstanding performance and progressed straight to the Leinster final.

In the Leinster final Cora sang Sia’s ‘Opportunity’ and once again managed to avoid elimination and the ‘Wild Card’ heat by securing her place in the All Ireland semi finals where she competed against qualifiers from other Irish provinces.

Cora and her family travelled to Dublin again last Sunday for the All-Ireland semi-final.

Cora again sang My Heart Will Go On, this time improving from her earlier performance by displaying more commanding stage presence. Cora was delighted to hear her name when the results were called out and now looks forward to the Teenstars All Ireland Final on Saturday, June 24.