Athlone link to this year's Eurovision

Local Eurovision fans will have an extra incentive to tune in to the semi-finals next Thursday as an Athlone man will take to the stage as part of the Irish entry.

Jay Boland, who shot to fame in RTE’s The Voice back in 2014, will play guitar and sing backing vocals on ‘Sunlight’ performed by former Westlife member, now 2fm DJ Nicky Byrne.

Just minutes before he jetted out to Stockholm, Sweden on Tuesday for rehearsals for the song contest which attracts a TV viewership of close to 200 million every year, a “delighted” Jay said he jumped at the opportunity to part of the Irish set-up.

The “random opportunity” came out of the blue just two weeks ago when he got a call from the RTE musical director to come in and try out for the team and after playing guitar and singing Ireland’s song in studio he was in.

“To be able to go out, sing and play guitar and represent Ireland is a huge deal. I’m just delighted to be part of it,” Jay enthused in Dublin airport just prior to flying out to Sweden to begin a jam-packed schedule of rehearsals and appearances in the run-up to the semi-finals.

So what does the Creggan native think of Ireland’s chances of progressing to finals on Saturday, May 14?

“Obviously, it will be tough, but the fact we have Nicky Byrne who has a huge fans all over Europe from his Westlife days is a huge plus. Hopefully we’ll do well.”

Jay told the Westmeath Independent that he always has had an interest in the Eurovision but he cannot believe he is now going to be part of the massive spectacle, the scale of which is just huge and is “great exposure” for him as a performer.

“There is something like 17 or 18,000 spectators in the venue and then on a global scale we were told they are about 200 million people watching, it’s crazy,” Jay added, admitting that it will be the biggest audience he has ever played to.

Now based in Dublin, Jay has been busy since The Voice days, he is now studying songwriting, gigging regularly and playing in several bands in the capital, something which he believes him helped hugely to get the Eurovision call!