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 (BAI), 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. Draw Artist Song Result Number of stars01Anna Kearney"Symphony" Final Duel2502Mollie Kennedy"Stay with Me" Eliminated2203Aoife McNelis"Always" Final Duel2404Arabella Dolan"Take Me to Church" Semi-Final2605Ciara McShane"Take My Hand" Eliminated1806Joya & Priya"Wake Me Up" Eliminated2107Riaghan 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. Draw Artist Song Result Number of stars01Caoimhe McBride"September Song" Final Duel2302Alison McGrath"Ghost" Semi-Final2803Sophie Whelan"Speeding Cars" Eliminated2204Katie Healy"Feel It Again" Final Duel2505Nikki Little"Illuminate" Eliminated1906Rachel Kennedy"Shape of You" Eliminated2007Cairde 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. Draw Artist Song Result Number of stars01Seisear Séieseach"When We Were Young" Final Duel2502Grace Lauhoff"Thinking Out Loud" Eliminated2203Katie O'Connor"Counting to Sleep" Eliminated2304Lauren Doherty"IDGAF" Eliminated2205Isabelle Moore"Falling Slowly" Final Duel2406Savannah Phoenix-Munroe"Lullaby" Semi-Final2607Daniel 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. Draw Artist Song Result Number of stars01Skye Murphy Darrer"Chandelier" Final Duel2702Molly Verider-Cassidy"The Cup Song" Eliminated2303Orla McDermott"Linger" Semi-Final3004Fionn and Roisin Vigors"Teenage Dirtbag" Eliminated2105Rachel Hoey"We Couldn't Fake It" Eliminated2006Rebecca Cronin"Perfect" Final Duel2507Sophie 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. Draw Artist Song Result01Anna Kearney"This Is Me" Finalist02Alison McGrath"Stay with Me" Final Duel03Caoimhe McBride"Waiting for Love" Eliminated04Seisear Séiseach"Pompeii" )Eliminated05Savannah Phoenix-Munroe"Circle of Life" Finalist06Arabella Dolan"Friday I'm in Love" Eliminated07Orla McDermott"Hold Back the River" Final Duel08Skye 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. Artist Draw Heat/Semi-Final Song Draw ESC Winning Song ResultAnna Kearney01"Symphony" 04"Why Me?" Final DuelOrla McDermott02"Linger" 05"Rock 'n' Roll Kids" EliminatedSavannah Phoenix-Munroe03"Circle of Life" 06"Hold Me Now" Final Duel

Final Duel Draw Artist Heat/Semi-Final Song Result01Anna Kearney"Symphony" Winner02Savannah Phoenix-Munroe"Circle of Life" Eliminated

Artist and song information

Anna Kearney Anna Kearney (born 30 January 2006) 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

+ Points awarded to Ireland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point Ireland received 34 points from the online vote

+ Points awarded by Ireland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Detailed voting results + Draw Country Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points 01 3 9 10 14 6 10 1 02 9 2 7 5 10 6 5 03 11 13 13 6 17 15 04 1 4 1 7 13 2 10 05 6 7 3 9 1 3 8 06 16 11 4 16 12 13 07 2 12 14 1 9 4 7 08 15 18 15 13 11 16 09 14 6 12 12 14 14 10 12 8 6 10 3 9 2 11 10 14 5 2 8 7 4 12 13 18 15 16 17 18 17 14 8 10 9 4 2 5 6 15 13 16 17 3 7 12 16 17 17 18 18 15 18 17 5 1 2 8 4 1 12 18 7 3 8 15 16 11 19 4 5 11 11 5 8 3

References