The title of the competition kind of gives it away. “The All-Ireland Talent show”. Here we have a competition entirely based on the premise that the person or group or act or whatever with the most talent should win. Now I’m not saying that the act (3 young brothers from the Arran Islands) that won are not talented. Clearly they are. They are very good, particularly when you factor in their age, but the problem is that, and I don’t mean to be sour graping or disparaging towards the boys, but what they did wasn’t overly original or unique. None of the other acts were.

Young Daithí was the only performer that not only wrote his own music, but was developing his own style in which to write it. He displayed genuine musical talent, a love of his instrument and a musical style that most people would take a lifetime to develop. He was the only person in the competition who did have this. All of the others were very talented in their areas, but they didn’t have that special edge. And because of this disparity, he not only did not win, he in fact came last. First out.

This just reinforces my firm belief that these competitions are, sadly, entirely based on popularity and not on talent, musical skill, or even on the odd bits of musical genius that do occasionally shine through, like this performer. It was another sad day for Irish talent, but I still have faith that he will go on to better things. I think that his sheer talent will see him win through where so many others.

Anyway, whatever happens, I’ll be going to his concerts.