The biggest underdog stories as Ireland's Eurovision odds revealed
Ireland's odds of winning the Eurovision just keep getting worse and worse.
While EMMY and Laika Party have a shot at getting into the grand final — coming in at 8/11 — the odds on us extending our (now-tied) record to eight wins read for grim viewing, with some markets having us as long as 250/1.
However, stranger things have happened. And with these long odds landing from rank outsiders, could the miracle be pulled off this Saturday?
DISCLAIMER: WE'RE OBVIOUSLY NOT GOING TO TELL YOU TO PUT MONEY OR NOT ON IRELAND TO WIN THE EUROVISION — GAMBLE RESPONSIBY! Patrick Kielty as host of the Late Late Show seems like a no brainer now, but he was a rank outsider when the race to replace Tubridy was on. Pic: Andres Poveda
After wrapping up his second season as Late Late host last Friday, Patrick Kielty hosting seems like a no brainer in hindsight. But when Ryan Tubridy announced his departure, the Down comedian appeared to be a long shot rather than a dead cert.
Patrick's odds as host kicked off at around 12/1 to 14/1 — making him a rank outsider, but not impossible — but once favourites such as Miriam O'Callaghan and Claire Byrne dropped out, and despite a few red herrings in Angela Scanlon and Tommy Tiernan, Patrick's odds were slashed. And the rest, as they say, is history. Cardinal Robert Prevost was stuck around 100/1 odds wise when it came to becoming Pope Francis' successor, but was elected Pope Leo XIV — becoming the first ever Pope from the USA. Pic: Ettore Ferrari/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Cardinal Robert Prevost made history last week when he became the first ever Pope from the USA — but while people were wondering who could become Francis' successor, his name was seldom, if ever, brought up.
Bookies such as Polymarket over in the US had his chances of becoming the pope at around 1% — meaning in layman's terms that his odds would've been around 99/1. But, amazingly, some Americans had the inside track; with two punters netting at least $20,000 after Pope Leo XIV made his first address as his Holiness. Salvador Sobral wasn't given much of a chance back in 2017, but won the competition by a huge margin. Could EMMY do the same this weekend? Pic:See? It can be done!
Salvador Sobral's ballad Amar Pelos Dois wasn't given much of a look to win the contest outright — matter of fact, he wasn't even in placed in the top 10 before the semi final.
However, he blew both the judges and televoters away, bringing Portugal its first Eurovision with a massive 758 points. Could EMMY pull it off this weekend? The USA went on to win the gold in the Winter Olympics after beating the heavily favoured USSR, who'd beaten them in every game in 20 years up until that point. Pic:While ice hockey isn't as big a deal on this side of the Atlantic, the USA's Miracle on Ice is one of the more impressive winter sport stories of the 80s.
During the 1980 Winter Olympics, the virtually unknown USA ice hockey team were a bunch of lads fresh out of college who weren't given a chance against the USSR, who beat them in every game they played for over 20 years. However, the 1,000/1 odds were beaten, and the US went on to win the gold. There's doing the impossible, and then there's winning the Premier League one season after being in a relegation dogfight, at odds of 5,000/1. Enter Leicester City. Pic: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
Of course, this is probably the most well known miracle to ever happen sports-wise.
After barely surviving relegation in the 2014/15 Premier League season, the Foxes were given odds of 5,000/1 of winning the Premier League in 2016. And through the magic of Jamie Vardy, N'Golo Kante, and the tinkerman himself Claudio Ranieri, the quite literally impossible dream came true, and Leicester City became champions.
Sure, they've been yo-yoing since and are back on their way down, but it's one thing that can never be taken away from them.
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