BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Ireland dumped out of Eurovision (original) (raw)

Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy had a tricky early draw

Seven-times Eurovision winners Ireland have failed to qualify for Saturday's final of the song contest in Moscow.

The country's pop-rock entry was not among the 10 successful nations in Thursday's semi-final, which included Denmark, Ukraine, Estonia and Greece.

Pre-contest favourites Norway, plus Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Croatia and Azerbaijan also made the cut.

Ireland failed to progress last year with their comic entry performed by glove puppet Dustin the Turkey.

This year, they were represented by Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy who performed Et Cetera.

Other disappointed countries included Serbia, who fielded one of the few comic entries this year.

The Serbs hosted last year's contest after winning in 2007.

	THURSDAY'S QUALIFIERS Norway Greece Ukraine (pictured) Estonia Lithuania Azerbaijan Albania Denmark Moldova Croatia

The Netherlands, represented by veteran band De Toppers, were knocked out for the fifth year running.

Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Cyprus, Hungary and Slovenia have also exited the competition.

The success of the night was Estonia, who last appeared in the final in 2003.

But it was all not all bad news for the Irish, as Denmark's successful song was co-written by Ronan Keating.

Following Thursday night's semi-final, the draw for Saturday's final was made.

The UK's Jade Ewen, who will take part in her first full dress rehearsal on Friday, will perform 23rd in a line-up of 25 songs.

Bookmakers Ladbrokes are tipping Norway's singing violinist Alexander Rybak as the favourite for the big night, followed by Greece, Turkey, Azerbaijan and the UK.