Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988

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Eurovision Song Contest 1988
Country Flag of Ireland Ireland
National preselection
Preselection process National Final
Preselection date(s) 6 March 1988
Selected entrant Jump The Gun
Selected song Take Him Home
Finals performance
Semi-final result N/A
Final result 8th of 21 (79 points)


Thanks to Johnny Logan's win in Brussels the year before, the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Ireland's capital city, Dublin. The song "Take Him Home," written and composed by Peter Eades and performed by Jump The Gun was chosen to represent Ireland after it won the national final selection. Held on 6 March at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, the national final was hosted by Marty Whelan (who would provide commentary for RTÉ's broadcast of the Eurovision beginning in 2000), and Maxi, who had represented Ireland as a soloist in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, and again as part of the group Sheeba in 1981. Eight songs competed in the event, and the winner was selected by a panel of twelve "experts," each of whom awarded each song a score from one to eight points. One member of the panel was Sandy Kelly who had represented Ireland in the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest as a member of The Duskeys.[1]

Contents

[edit] The Selection

Draw Song Performer Points Rank
1 Tearing Up My Heart Tranz-Am 44 7th
2 Dance To My Own Tune Fabienne 36 8th
3 Friends Forever Timara Galassi 58 5th
4 Stop Messin' Around Paul Duffy 70 3rd
5 Tar Liom Anois Grace Dunne 53 6th
6 Take Him Home Jump The Gun 92 1st
7 Lifeline Liam Reilly 85 2nd
8 In And Out Of Love Leanne & Hotline 60 4th

Peter Eades, the lead singer of Jump The Gun, had competed in Ireland's national final selection in 1980, in which he ranked shared fifth. Liam Reilly would go on to represent Ireland in the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest, and compose the Irish entry in the 1991 contest.

[edit] At Eurovision

"Take Him Home" was performed tenth in the running order on the night of the contest, following Switzerland and preceding Germany. At the close of the voting sequence, the song had received 79 points, placing eighth out of 21 songs.

[edit] Points Awarded to Ireland

12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points

Flag of Spain Spain

Flag of Denmark Denmark
Flag of Germany Germany
Flag of Norway Norway
Flag of Sweden Sweden

Flag of Austria Austria
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands

5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Flag of Belgium Belgium
Flag of Portugal Portugal

Flag of France France
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland

Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom

Flag of Finland Finland
Flag of Turkey Turkey
Flag of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia

0 points

Flag of Greece Greece

Flag of Iceland Iceland

Flag of Israel Israel

Flag of Italy Italy

Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg

[edit] Points Awarded by Ireland[2]

12 points Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg
10 points Flag of Switzerland Switzerland
8 points Flag of Norway Norway
7 points Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
6 points Flag of Germany Germany
5 points Flag of Sweden Sweden
4 points Flag of Denmark Denmark
3 points Flag of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
2 points Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
1 point Flag of Israel Israel

[edit] References