RTÉ's Eurovision Song Contest commentator Marty Whelan has said that seeing Irish hopefuls Wild Youth miss out on a place in the grand final is "very hard to fathom".
Wild Youth, with their song We Are One, did not secure a place in the final ten following the public vote during Tuesday's semi-final.
The 10 countries who made it through to the grand final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One's Morning Ireland, Whelan described the semi-final final result as "desperately disappointing" for Irish fans that had made the trip to Liverpool.
He said that the Dublin band had really put in the work "selling the song", only to have their dreams dashed.
"It's like we suddenly have no friends. We're like Billy-no-mates on this one," he lamented.
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Describing We Are One as a "great song" Whelan added: "I think everything about the presentation was terrific. I think they really gave it everything."
Whelan contended that Ireland is "always going to be fighting a fight" at Eurovision because "we're a little island on the edge of Europe".
"It's a very tough call. And there's nobody going to tell me that there is a better way to do this than what we do. One day, a song is going to hit. And when it does, that's going to do it."
Whelan's comments were somewhat at odds with Donal Mulligan, Lecturer in Media and Communications at Dublin City University - and a Eurovision superfan.
"I think the song this year - it did lack something compared to some of the other ones," Mulligan said.
"If you look at the kind of the spread of what's getting through, they're either something that's quite novel that you haven't heard before, that is kind of breaking new ground - something like Finland perhaps. Or if they're going for something novelty or whatever - the kind of 'going all in'.
"We were a little bit 'a foot in each camp' there, but we weren't doing anything terribly new. We had a little bit of novelty - the outfits and the presentation of the lads was a little bit strange, but kind of not strange enough for Eurovision".
Mulligan agreed with Whelan that it was a good song, however "a good song in a kind of a middle-ranking isn't going to get people to press those buttons. And especially at the semi-final, you really need to bring the public in."
"But the point is we were followed by men who ended up in their underpants!" Whelan replied.
He continued: "This is in many ways a ludicrous event - and in other ways it's terrific. It's terrific fun. I hope no one is going to suggest that we go down that road!" added the presenter.
"Dustin was in his underpants, wasn't he?" offered Morning Ireland host Audrey Carville of the former Eurovision hopeful, who made a surprise appearance during the contest's interval last night.
"Well, he's always going to be a turkey, let's face it!" countered Whelan.
Making a prediction for the grand final Whelan said: "If I had a pound I would put it on Sweden, and then Norway."
The Eurovision drama continues this Thursday night with the second semi-final, in which 16 more countries will battle it out for a place in the grand final. You can watch it all unfold on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player from 8pm.
