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This Week
The All Ireland Talent Show Grand Final finally arrived! We’ve watched as thousands of people battled it out to show the nation their talent. Our five judges had the difficult and often heart wrenching task of cutting that down to just eight acts from each region and the viewers reduced that again to just six. Now four months later, even though Amanda and Dublin were sadly out of the competition, the other four judges were still in with a chance of winning. Dáithí came to the final with an amazing three acts and Dana, Bláthnaid and John had one act each hoping to take the title.

Furthermore, the final week saw a new spin on proceedings. Each act performed once and the lines were frozen during The Results Show as the three acts with the lowest scores were knocked out. The three remaining acts sang one last time as the phone lines were reopened before finally closing for the last time. Only then would we finally know who was going to be crowned 2011’s All Ireland Champion.

Don Stiffe kicked off the show as one of Dáithí’s three representatives. We all remember Don as the devoted husband and father of three but by now we also knew him as a hugely ambitious singer from The West. Don sang “The Island” and once again gave a beautifully tender rendition of the song. As Don finished the song the crowd erupted. Dáithí gave him strong praise saying that when people look back at this year’s All Ireland Talent Show they will say that it was Don‘s year.

The second act was The South’s Mad For Road. The trad band, Jimmy, Gearóid, Brian, Kieran and Pádraig, has become renowned for their vibrant energy on stage almost as much as their musical talent! They sang “Song For Ireland” and once again put their own spin on it, all the while keeping it trad and hugely entertaining. As John commented they’re “one hundred percent authentic Irish!”

Next, it was the turn of another of Dáithí’s acts, Cosa Beoga. The controversial traditional ten piece brush and set dancing troupe from Abbeyknockmoy, Co. Galway is made up of Lorna, Joey, Keith, Meabh, Shauna, Lauren, Adam, Colin, Robert and Elisha. True to form they were accompanied by Pat and Micheál who played a mix of reels while the troupe danced their hearts out. Their enthusiasm and love of dance radiated, intoxicating the judges as well as the audience. The troupe left the stage on a high after hearing more encouraging words from Dáithí.

Just past the halfway mark now and Dana’s candidate, Brian Sheerin was up next. This Donegal man and father to Jack has won us over during previous shows with his voice, handsome looks and relaxed stage presence. Brian sang “Tupelo Honey” while also playing guitar. When he finished the crowd exploded and Dana was glowing with pride. “Brian you absolutely nailed it,” was her excited reaction. Brian’s face said it all, he had given it his best and had done himself proud.

Sean Nós ar an tSionann were next to take the stage. Another contender from The West, this ten piece dance troupe from Roscommon, Leitrim, Kerry and Sligo had huge support behind them. They performed to three reels: The Reconciliation, The Plough and the Stars and Green Mountain. As Gráinne said “they gave it socks” and Dáithí was delighted with their efforts. He remarked on how wonderful it is to see a Sean Nós troupe performing and the joy they bring to their family and friends.

The last finalist was next! Daniel Furlong is the thirteen year old boy from Wexford who has managed to bring a tear to almost everyone’s eye at this point. The soprano held his own consistently throughout the entire competition despite having some fierce rivals. He sang “You Raise Me Up” and as before, he held the audience in the palm of his hand with his angelic voice. Bláthnaid was again singing his praises by highlighting how fantastic he has been to work with and how much he deserved to win this competition.

So that was it for the main show. The phone lines were opened and the public began voting in their droves. The backstage show featured Daniel O’ Donnell as the special guest and even he found it difficult to pick a winner! At 8:30 we went back to The Results Show for the last time.

Nervously, the six acts stood on stage awaiting their fate while the phone lines were temporarily frozen. The three acts with the lowest votes were Cosa Beoga, Sean Nós ar an tSionann and Brian Sheerin. All three of them were unfortunately eliminated.

The remaining three acts now had one final chance to impress. Daniel Furlong went first and sang “Pie Jesu.” Mad For Road were next and they went with “The Auld Triangle” and finally Don Stiffe sang “Roll Back the Clouds.”

This was it. For the last time Gráinne was about the call out the name of the act with the highest number of votes from the viewing public. The tension built to fever pitch before Gráinne finally announced this year’s winner. The 2011 All Ireland Talent Show Champion was a very shocked Daniel Furlong.

That’s it for another year. Thanks for all of your votes and of course for tuning in every week in your hundreds of thousands to support your favourite. Massive congratulations to Daniel, we expect to be seeing a lot more of him in the future!