Limerick man’s song Czechs in for the Eurovision final

The first of the Eurovision semi-finals were held in Stockholm, Sweden last night.

Countries such as Finland, Greece, Moldova and Estonia all performed with the hope of making it through to the Eurovision final on the 14th May. One Eurovision contestant performing to get to the final, Gabriela Gunčíková, represented her country with the moving song I Stand. I Stand, co-written by Limerick songwriter Aidan O'Connor, proved to be a hit with audiences as the tune brought the Czech Republic through to the final - for the first time ever. O' Connor, who has has written a number of songs for different countries that narrowly missed out on being selected for the Eurovision, finally secured his chance at going for the win this year. Speaking to RTÉ, Aidan spoke of his delight at making it this far:

"[It's] amazing, really, really exciting. I'm nervous but really happy that we've made it this far," he said. "We've come quite close...  and it's been a wonderful journey, but to finally make it is a dream come true, it's a wonderful experience."

Nicky Byrne will represent Ireland with Sunlight, one of 18 countries competing in the second semi-final on Thursday night. You can see him perform on RTÉ2 from 8pm onwards.

Lead image via YouTube