Ireland booted out but Romania's yodelling rappers make it through to Eurovision final

12 May 2017 at 4:40 am

A yodelling rap duo, a trio of sisters and a popera singer beat Ireland’s Brendan Murray to make it through to the Eurovision Song Contest’s grand final tomorrow night.

Romania’s rap duo burst Ireland’s balloon and Eurovision dream (REX)

The second semi-final of the contest took place in Kiev on Thursday as viewers across Europe voted their top 10 acts from the round through to Saturday’s finale but there were tears for Ireland, who have failed to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest for the fourth year running after falling at the final hurdle in the semi-final stage.

Ireland attempted to reach for the skies by giving young Brendan a Westlife-style ballad to sing but his rendition of ‘Dying To Try’ went down like a led balloon.

Go on ireland lets hope neither the balloon or his balls drop before the end of the tune #eurovision
— pat scannell (@scan_pat) May 11, 2017

Spent all f**king morning blowing this thing up! #eurovision #ireland @ Kyiv, Ukraine https://t.co/i9vFmZzpOw
— liam mckenna (@liammckenna1) May 2, 2017

Finnish commentator "Ireland is your helium balloon leaking?" #Eurovision
— Pauliina (@pauliina_x) May 11, 2017

Ireland's #Eurovision act has hidden his backing vocalists in his eyebrows #esc2017 pic.twitter.com/1duHmmxdT1
— William Lee Adams (@willyleeadams) May 11, 2017

No country has a worse #eurovision record in the last five years than Ireland. New blood with new ideas needed in @rte. pic.twitter.com/klZfmqSXtY
— Keith Mills (@KeithM) May 11, 2017

Tweets by deniseodonoghue

However, some thought Galway-born Brendan, 20, was robbed of a place in the final.

IRELAND DESERVED TO BE IN THE GRAND FINAL!!!!! #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/9zHEfdRYbq
— Erick Gallagher (@SW_Erick13) May 11, 2017

The best rehearsal ☘???? This balloon looks like a lollipop ???????? I want to @brendan_m96 will be winner ???????????? #ESC2017 #Eurovision #Ireland pic.twitter.com/8YSooLgAjN
— ????Iregirl???? (@grumpy_hovitch) May 2, 2017

And others just couldn’t get over the utter shame of it.

Jesus Christ – another year of shame for Ireland – did Johnny Logan & Linda Martin die in the GPO for this?! #EUROVISION
— Josef O'Shea (@josefoshea) May 11, 2017

But Eurovision is full or surprises, Romanian act Ilinca, featuring Alex Florea with their song Yodel It!, which combines rap with traditional yodelling, made it through.

I'm living for Romania's song, love a bit of yodel with a side of rap #Eurovision
— charlotte jane (@hiitscharlottej) May 11, 2017

I did not expect to like that yodel rap mashup, but now I'm hooked. #SBSEurovision
— Richard Leathem (@dickiegee) May 11, 2017

Singing sisters Ogene also won a place in the final for the Netherlands and Croatia’s act, Jacques Houdek, fused pop and opera for his performance of ‘My Friend’.

Successful semi-finalists

Austria: Running On Air by Nathan Trent
Belarus: Story of My Life by Naviband
Bulgaria: Beautiful Mess by Kristian Kostov
Croatia: My Friend by Jacques Houdek
Denmark: Where I Am by Anja
Hungary: Origo by Joci Papai
Israel: I Feel Alive by IMRI
The Netherlands: Lights and Shadows by OG3NE
Norway: Grab The Moment by JOWST
Romania: Yodel It! by Ilinka ft. Alex Florea