Pictures: Cork kids have 'Schoolovision' fun Scoil Bhríde Eglantine

A CORK primary school had “all kinds of everything” for music fans yesterday as some of Ireland’s most promising future Eurovision stars took to the stage.

ABBA would no doubt have been shaking in their knee-high boots with the talent on display at Scoil Bhríde Eglantine’s annual ‘Schoolovision’.

This was the school’s 18th year running its own take on the Eurovision Song Contest - a televised event attracting millions of viewers annually.

Some nine acts performed in the contest’s final yesterday that featured original songs from pupils.

Acts included Super Sisters, The Four Amigos, This is Us and Red Alert. The Only Direction also featured along with Claire Dwyer, The Fairytellers, EM irresistible, The Unicorns, 5 Rings and V-Kay.

The “rock ‘n’roll kids” worked under the direction of staff members and event organisers Fiona Walsh, Stephanie Murphy and Rosie O’Shea.

Students celebrated their performances together with an exclusive afterparty at their neighbours in The Briar Rose.

Each act was lucky enough to have its own in-house fan club as classmates and family waved homemade banners from the crowd.

Crew behind the scenes worked tirelessly to ensure the event ran smoothly.

Lexie, aged 11, spoke of the pressure that comes with organising such an ambitious event. “It’s nerve-racking because anything can go wrong but it’s also fun.”

Maylie Hoffmann, also 11, co-presented the event with Emily Gosnell and explained that the Schoolovision was a huge culture shock to her.

“I come from Michigan and have been in Cork seven months,” she said. “I hadn’t heard about the Eurovision before and I still haven’t watched it but I would really like to.” She went on to list some other differences between Ireland and the US.

“The food over here is a lot better for you, but it’s also not as nice,” she confessed.

“They also drive at the other side of the road.”

Sophia Considine penned the song Uh Oh, which she performed with The Only Direction. She said that even if the band breaks up they will always stay friends. “I was so mad at Zayne from One Direction that time he left the band right before a concert. It’s so important that everyone talks to each other instead of just randomly leaving.

“That’s something we would never do to each other. If we wanted to break up we would also make it clear that we were retiring from the band and not the world of music.”

Alicja Kanas spoke of the inspiration behind her and schoolmate Ophelia Smithers’ music.

“Our band is inspired by our magical game, unicorns. It’s so magic it can even make you have dreams.”

Meanwhile, Aoife Dwyer (of This is Us local fame) wasn’t going to let artistic differences get in the way of her and sister Claire’s fun. Despite performing separately, both girls were supportive of each other.

“In Covid, we played with each other and spent all our time together,” Claire said.

Katie Downey, who is in sixth class and part of the band Red Alert, admitted that the lead-up could be stressful.

“Although there were a few fights we got through them and worked really hard.”

For 12-year-old Suzanne Boczek from Douglas it was easy to find common ground between her and fellow “V-Kay” bandmates.

“We wanted to write a song about something that we all liked. We weren’t sure what that was until we started talking. That was when we realised that we all loved holidays.” Fifth class pupil, Lexie O’Brien was enjoying the backstage buzz.

“It kind of feels like the real Eurovision,” she said.