Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001
Gary O'Shaughnessy represented Ireland in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen with the song "Without Your Love".
| Eurovision Song Contest 2001 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | National Final | |||
| Selection date(s) | 25 February 2001 | |||
| Selected entrant | Gary O'Shaughnessy | |||
| Selected song | "Without Your Love" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 21st, 6 points | |||
| Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
National final
The final was held on 25 February 2001 at the RTÉ television centre in Dublin. Louise Loughman hosted the event, and regional televoting was used to determine the winner.[1] Though O'Shaughnessy won with the most points from the televoting regions, he only received the third highest number of televotes overall, with 11,653. Runners-up InFocus received the most votes, with 13,356, and third-placed Fe-Mail received 12,271.
O'Shaughnessy had previously competed in the 1997 and 1999 national selections, coming in 3rd and 5th place respectively.
| Final – 25 February 2001 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
| 1 | James Peake | "Who Said I Pray" | Gerry Morgan | 41 | 5 |
| 2 | InFocus | "Every Kiss is a Lie" | Kevin Breathnach, Billy Larkin | 70 | 2 |
| 3 | Gavin McCormack | "I'll Be With You" | Tommy Quinn | 34 | 6 |
| 4 | David Murphy | "Katie Lovely" | David Murphy | 31 | 7 |
| 5 | Fe-Mail | "Undertow" | Paul Swan | 63 | 3 |
| 6 | Gary O'Shaughnessy | "Without Your Love" | Pat Sheridan | 74 | 1 |
| 7 | Emma Reynolds | "The Innocent Days" | Gerry Morgan | 51 | 4 |
At Eurovision
For the 2002 contest, the EBU abandoned the qualifying scheme it had used since 1997, in which countries were allowed to participate based on their average scores from the previous five years. Instead, only the thirteen highest scoring countries were invited to compete in Tallinn, along with the "Big Four" and the countries relegated from the 2001 contest.
O'Shaughnessy performed 12th in the running order on the night of the contest. "Without Your Love" went on to place 21st with 6 points, and was Ireland worst result in the contest at the time. Under the five-year averages method, Ireland would have qualified for the 2002 contest, but the 21st-place ranking was not good enough under the new qualifying method. As a result of relegation, however, Ireland was given a guaranteed spot in the 2003 contest.
| 12 points |  |
| 10 points |  |
| 8 points |  |
| 7 points |  |
| 6 points |  |
| 5 points |  |
| 4 points |  |
| 3 points |  |
| 2 points |  |
| 1 point |  |
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
