Ireland’s entry Jedward finished eighth in tonight’s Eurovision Song Contest with 119 points, an unexpectedly low result for an act which had created the biggest buzz of the contest and was among the favourites.
Azerbaijan won with 221 points for their mid-tempo ballad Running Scared sung by duo Eli and Nikki.
“We loved taking part in the Eurovision”, Jedward said after the result was announced. “Our aim was to bring fun and happiness to Eurovision and make Ireland proud. And we hope we succeeded.”
The twin brothers from Lucan gave a strong but slightly nervy performance in the final; their performance was stronger and more in control in Friday’s jury final, which counted for 50 per cent of the vote.
This was Ireland's best Eurovision result since 2000, when Eamonn Toal came in sixth place with Millennium of Love.
It was also revealed that Ireland qualified eighth in Thursday’s semi-final, also an unexpectedly low result.
This is only the fourth time Azerbaijan has competed in Eurovision, and they have been consistently strong contenders, always finishing in the top eight.
This year they received three 12-point scores out of the 42 voting countries, an unusually low number of top scores for a winning act. Theirs is the lowest relative winning score since the contest's voting rules were changed in 1975.
Italy, returning to the contest after a 14-year absence, finished a surprise second with 189 points, and Sweden came third with 185.
This was the most unpredictable contest in many years: France has topped the polls for several weeks but finished in 14th place. Germany’s Lena, returning after having won last year, finished in tenth place. The UK’s Blue finished in 11th place.
Jedward return to Ireland tomorrow and will greet their fans and hold a press conference at Dublin airport at 11.30am.