Ryan Dolan lining up an eighth Irish Eurovision win

Eurovision nations beware, Ireland are through to the final once again and are eyeing up an eighth success in the tournament.

Ryan Dolan was the third act to be announced in qualifying for the showpiece in Tuesday’s first semi-final show.

As such, Ireland have come in from 50/1 to 20/1 to increase on their seven Eurovision wins in Malmo’s final, with Dolan’s “Only Love Survives” finding plenty of early favour among the voters in the semi-final.

The stereotypical Euro dance vibe from the song could well find a haul of fans across the continent, with the upbeat message perhaps calling out to potential voters amidst the European recession.

It’s not a bad tactic from the Irishman, given what Europeans chose to win last year – Loreen’s trance tune “Euphoria” bringing success to Sweden.

Denmark also went through in the opening semi, and they’re 4/5 favourites to win for the second time this century, following their victory in 2000 with the Olsen Brothers.

This year’s entrant is Emmelie De Forest with “Only Teardrops”. The 20-year-old‘s smiley, innocent image coupled with an almost Shakira-like number represents a strong force to come top of that points table on Saturday night.

Ukraine were another nation to progress on Tuesday with Zlata Ognevic’s “Gravity” and are 9/1 to win.

The 2004 winners have gone for a bit of a modern take on a power ballad, something which often resonates to the homes of those across Europe, as seen in Azerbaijan’s 2011 winner ‘Running Scared’ by Ell & Nikki.

Azerbaijan are lurking this year too at 12/1, and they’ve clearly gone with an ‘if it isn’t broke don’t fix it’ method with Farid Mammadov’s rather 90’s themed love ballad “Hold Me”.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing