Ballyfermot sings praises of ousted Byrne

DESPITE HER X Factorousting last night, the throngs gathered in Mary Byrne's local in Ballyfermot in Dublin all agreed that there's something about Mary.

The 50-year-old singing sensation, a regular at Downey’s pub for 25 years, had friends and neighbours in the crowd on the edge of their seats as they awaited the result of her sing-off with 17-year-old Cher Lloyd to decide the last place in next week’s final of the ITV talent competition.

After the public vote had placed the two performers in the bottom two of the five remaining contestants, Byrne's confident rendition of It's a Man's Worldfailed to win over the judges, with Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Cole and then Simon Cowell each opting to save Lloyd.

The teenager's performance of the Britney Spears song Everytimesealed her place in the final show next week.

Byrne’s mentor Louis Walsh was the only judge who voted to keep her in the competition.

Nevertheless, friends and neighbours were proud of the performances that took the Dubliner so far in the competition.

“Mary’s already won in our hearts,” said her former karaoke partner Pat Nugent.

“We just want to give her a big hug now and tell her how brilliant she’s been,” said the Ballyfermot man.

Colleagues of the former operator of checkout 40 at Tesco in Ballyfermot shed tears that their friend's X Factorjourney had come to an end – but store manager Annie Dowling said she wasn't expecting Mary back to work today. "No, I'm not expecting her back to work. We've had right crack over the past eight weeks. We've all had a great time and we're all really proud of her," she said.

The singer’s colleagues, at first inconsolable, soon began planning a warm welcome for her return.

“There’ll definitely be a big party,” said her friend Anne Farrelly, “then we’ll all have to join the AA in January.”

Byrne, who was the last of judge Walsh’s acts in the competition, had survived nine weeks on the show, becoming the 12th of the 16 acts to be voted out.

Downey’s had also been packed on Saturday night, when Byrne battled for the coveted place in the ITV show final.

With the brief to sing both a club classic and a "get me to the final" song, Mary's first performance was a camp production of the Gloria Gaynor classic Never Can Say Goodbye.

Despite suffering illness during the week, which saw the singer bed-bound for two days with little rehearsal time, her rendition was well received by judges, with Minogue saying, “Mary’s got her mojo back.”

Byrne's second song was the 1973 ballad The Way We Were, made famous by Barbra Streisand in the movie of the same name.

The Ballyfermot singer had broken down at the end of her performance saying, “It’s a song my mother always asked me to sing. I haven’t sung it in 15 years.”

The judges were encouraging, with Simon Cowell saying, “Whatever happens, Mary, you’re going to sell records and have concerts. You’re not going back to that Tesco checkout.”

Yesterday, bookies were tipping painter and decorator Matt Cardle to win the competition, with boy band One Direction, which features Mullingar’s Niall Horan, the second favourite.