Adrian Kavanagh's Blog

Adrian Kavanagh, 28th January 2019

Big 5/Host countries: Spain, Israel, France will show/vote in Semi Final 1, while United Kingdom, Italy and Germany show/vote in Semi Final 2.

The Draw: 

This is a bit of a mixed bag from an Irish perspective. The big win here is the fact that the United Kingdom will be voting in this semi final. Other plus points include the fact that a number of other countries who are “relatively” generous to Ireland in terms of Eurovision points are also voting in this semi final, including Denmark, Malta, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Romania. However, on the negative side of things, this semi final includes a number of countries that have very strong qualification records – including a number of countries that have qualified from every semi final, bar one, since 2004 – Sweden, Romania, Russia and Azerbaijan – and a number of other countries that have qualified from most of the semi finals that they have taken part in (especially over the last ten years); Norway, Armenia and Denmark. Other countries, such as Austria, Moldova and The Netherlands, have enjoyed a run of good form in the contest in recent years, while it remains to be seen if this year’s high profile X Factor Malta selection process can bring about an improved performance this year for Malta.

Adrian Kavanagh, 29th January 2018

So, from the perspective of Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for the 2018 Final, how good was today’s Eurovision semi-final allocation draw in Lisbon? The initial reaction was very positive, especially given that the United Kingdom was drawn to vote in the semi-final that Ireland is performing in. But was it really that good? It’s time to unpick the 2018 Semi Final draw, especially with reference to the potential selections that I had earlier identified as Ireland’s dream draw and night draw, as I discussed in greater detail in the previous post. (more…)