Adrian Kavanagh's Blog

Adrian Kavanagh, 13th May 2017

Ireland’s Brendan Murray finished in 13th place in Eurovision Semi Final 2 (with 86 points). But he only missed out on qualifying for the Final by a relatively narrow margin, finishing 15 points behind 10th placed, Denmark’s Anja Nissen. He finished 12th in the Jury Vote (45 points) and 12th also in the Televote (41 points). Had the United Kingdom being voting in our semi final, it could have been an entirely different story, especially as Ireland won relatively few points off the Big 5/Host countries – France, Ukraine, Germany – that were drawn to vote in this Semi Final.

But which countries did award points to Ireland in this semi final and which countries did not?

Estonia were the most generous to Ireland out of the twenty (other) countries that were voting in this semi final; awarding a combined total of 14 points (7 from the televote, 7 from the jury vote). Lithuania were one of the next most generous countries (third), with a combined vote tally of 12 (8 from the jury vote, 4 from the televote) being awarded to Ireland. (Both of the countries are Baltic states – the only other Baltic state that was not voting in Ireland’s semi final was Latvia, who traditionally tend to be one of the more generous Eurovision countries to Ireland.) Austria ranked as the second most generous country to Ireland, mainly due to the 10 points being awarded by the Austrian jury but there were also 3 points from the Austrian televoters.

Only two countries failed to award Ireland any points in this semi final – either from the televote or from the jury vote – and these were Croatia and Serbia. Both are Balkan states and indeed both are Former Yugoslav state. However, the other Former Yugoslav state voting in this semi final, FYR Macedonia, did award Ireland one televote point (which actually ranks as a pretty good result, given that Macedonia usually ranks as one of the least likely countries to vote for Ireland at Eurovision in the televote).

Ireland’s highest rankings in the televote came from Estonia (4th – 7 points), followed by Romania (5th – 6 points), Denmark (6th – 5 points) and Malta/Lithuania (7th – 4 points). Ireland’s lowest televote ranking was from Germany (15th), one of the Big 5/Host countries drawn to vote in this semi final.

Ireland’s highest rankings in the jury vote came from Austria (2nd – 10 points), followed by Lithuania (3rd – 8 points), Estonia (4th – 7 points) and Hungary (6th – 5 points). Ireland’s lowest rankings in the jury vote came from France, Croatia and Norway (all 16th). The very low jury ranking from Norway must raise some eyebrows, given the controversy that erupted earlier in Eurovision week involving comments made by one of the Norwegian jury members (who was subsequently replaced) about the Irish act.

Who did Ireland vote for?

In Semi Final 2, Lithuania won the Irish televote (12 points), ahead of Bulgaria (10), Romania (8), Croatia (7), Hungary (6), The Netherlands (5), Israel (4), Estonia (3), Norway (2) and Belarus (1). The lowest ranked acts by the Irish televote were FYR Macedonia (15th), San Marino (16th) and Serbia (17th).

In Semi Final 2, Bulgaria won the Irish jury vote (12 points), ahead of Austria (10), Switzerland (8), Norway (7), Israel (6), Malta (5), Romania (4), The Netherlands (3), Serbia (2) and Denmark (1). The lowest ranked acts by the Irish jury were Belarus (15th), Lithuania (16th) and San Marino (17th).

In the Grand Final, Romania won the Irish televote (12 points – Yodel-tastic), ahead of Portugal (10), Moldova (8), Poland (7), Bulgaria (6), Belgium (5), The United Kingdom (4), Croatia (3), Hungary (2) and Italy (1). The lowest ranked acts by the Irish televote were Spain (26th), Armenia (25th) and Greece (24th).

In Semi Final 2, Belgim won the Irish jury vote (12 points), ahead of Bulgaria (10), Romania (8), Austria (7), Sweden (6), Portugal (5), The Netherlands (4), Germany (3), Norway (2) and Azerbaijan (1). The lowest ranked acts by the Irish jury were Spain (26th), Greece (25th) and France (24th).

Tags: 2017, Eurovision, Voting

This entry was posted on May 14, 2017 at 6:06 am and is filed under Eurovision, Voting analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.