‘It lights a fire in me’

A talented Eurovision hopeful from Cork has vowed to try and reclaim Ireland’s former glory days at the famous song contest.

Ballinlough native Patrick O’Sullivan said he is feeling confident ahead of his appearance on ‘The Late Late Show’ Eurosong Special tomorrow night on RTÉ.

Patrick, who recently won top prize in RTÉ’s show ‘Last Singer Standing’, will be up against five other contestants, all singing for their chance to represent Ireland in Italy this May.

His song, ‘One Night, One Kiss, One Promise’, was written by Irish music industry heavyweights Nicky Byrne from Westlife, Danny O’Reilly from the Coronas, and Lar Kaye from All Tvvins. Speaking to the Cork Independent, Patrick said: “I love being on stage, it's my favourite thing to do and I feel like I come alive in that moment. It lights a fire in me. The Eurovision is extremely unpredictable, you just don't know what the temperature of Europe is going to be and what type of song is going to land, but I think this song has all the ingredients to do really well. I'm going to do my best to deliver as good a performance as I can.”

He continued: “I would just be beaming with pride to represent Cork and Ireland. I think it's about time that we got another Cork fella up on that stage because Cork's got talent by the bucket loads. How brilliant would it be to see Shandon Bells and the Shakey Bridge and all those iconic spots on the little postcards that they do before each song?”

He said the song stands every chance of winning over the Irish public and re-establishing Ireland as giants of Eurovision once again.

“What's good about this song is that it's not just one of those dime-a-dozen dance tracks, and it's equally not a slow ballad. It’s a kind of a combination of both. It's also really contemporary and upbeat and you could do some really fantastic staging with it. There's absolutely no reason Ireland can't run away with the Eurovision,” he said.

The winning song will be selected by a combination of public votes, and international Jury of music industry experts, and a jury of Irish music industry experts. The winner will be announced live on the night.

The last time Ireland won the Eurovision was in 1996 when Eimear Quinn wowed the continent with her song The Voice. If Patrick makes it through tomorrow’s voting, he will be the first Cork person to represent Ireland at the Eurovision since Cathal Dunne in 1979. Dunne finished firth that year with his song, Happy Man.

The five hopefuls joining Patrick on the Late Late Show tomorrow night are Janet Grogan with ‘Ashes Of Yesterday’; Brendan Murray with ‘Real Love’; Miles Graham with ‘Yeah, We're Going To Get Out Of It’; Rachel Goode with ‘I’m Loving Me’; and Brooke Scullion with ‘That's Rich’.

Patrick, who moved from Cork to London aged 17 to pursue a career in musical theatre in the West End, says it has always been a dream of his to represent his country at Eurovision.

He said: “I think it's one of those things where, when you get older, those dreams and notions you had as a kid, you tend to outgrow them a little bit maybe, so now it's all coming flooding back to me again and I just think it's such a special thing to be able to represent your country like that.”

Having performed in London’s West End for over a decade, Patrick now plans to bring that theatre and pageantry to his Eurovision bid.

“We are known around the world for our art and our music and our poetry and our storytelling and we can use all of those elements and bring it into the 21st century and really lean into what the Eurovision has become, this event where it's as much about the performance as it is the song.

“That's so much of what my job has been over the last ten years, performance and staging and theatre. I'd love to be able to bring that theatre to this and give that confidence back to Ireland again,” said Patrick.

If he makes it to the finals in Turin, Patrick says he will give it his absolute best shot and says the occasion will not make him nervous.

‘The Late Late Show Eurosong Special’ kicks off at tomorrow nigh at 9.35pm. Patrick’s entry, ‘One Night, One Kiss, One Promise’, is available on YouTube.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will take place in Turin, Italy, with semi-finals on 10 and 12 of May and the final on 14 May.