| Year: | 1968 |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Preselection: | National final |
| Preselection Date: | 3 March 1968 |
| Entrant: | Pat McGeegan |
| Song: | Chance of a Lifetime |
| Final Result: | 4th, 18 points |
The contestants in the Irish National Final were decided by two semi-finals, where three were chosen from the first which was held on 6 February with the second being held on 20 February. The Final was held on 3 March 1968 and was broadcast on RTÉ TV in Dublin, Ireland. All three shows were hosted by Brendan O'Reilly.
Ireland was represented by Pat McGeegan, with the song "Chance of a Lifetime", at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 6 April in London. The song was chosen in the fourth National Song Contest held on 3 March 1968.
The fourth National Song Contest consisted of two semi-finals and a final, which were held in the RTÉ Studios in Dublin, Ireland and hosted by Brendan O'Reilly.[1] This was the first time that an Irish national final had a semi-final and remained the only time until 1996.
RTÉ opened a submission period for composers to submit songs between 27 October 1967 and 1 January 1968. Composers had to be Irish-born or live in Ireland and could only submit a maximum of two songs each. RTÉ selected 16 songs from the received submissions.[2]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alma Carroll | "Give Me All Your Love" | Joe Burkett | |
| Anna McGoldrick | "Gleann Na Smól" | Stephen Redmond S.J. | |
| Anne Bushnell | "Ballad to a Boy" | Frank Dunne, Dolores Rockett | |
| Dawn Knight | "Why?" | Mary MacDonagh | |
| Deirdre Wynne | "Woman Beside the Phone" | Sean Fitzpatrick | |
| Frances McDermott | "Since the Spring" | Sean Byrne | |
| Frankie McBride | "You're Not There at All" | Hedley Kay | |
| Gregory | "You Can't Have Everything" | John McBreen, Eamon O'Shea | |
| Joan Connolly | "Grown Up World" | Séamus Fox | |
| Leslie Cooke | "Happy" | Peter O'Brien | |
| Pat Lynch | "Kinsale" | Jack Brierley, George Crosbie | |
| Pat McGeegan | "Chance of a Lifetime" | John Kennedy | |
| Roly Daniels | "Look for Love" | Andrew Dunne | |
| Tina | "One Love Two" | Jim Doherty | |
| Tommy Drennan | "If You Love Me" | Michael Reade | |
| Tony Kenny | "Bright Butterfly" | Helen Dunne, Dolores Rockett |
Almost all of the running order and exact results for the semi-finals are unknown. Although three songs were intended to qualify from each semi-final, a mistake where song 'M' ("Gleann Na Smól") was accidentally announced as having qualified instead of song 'N' ("Chance of a Lifetime"), meant that both songs qualified from the second semi-final.[3]
| Artist | Song | |
|---|---|---|
| Tony Kenny | "Bright Butterfly" | |
| Joan Connolly | "Grown Up World" | |
| Leslie Cooke | "Happy" | |
| Pat Lynch | "Kinsale" | |
| Tina | "One Love Two" | |
| Dawn Knight | "Why" | |
| Deirdre Wynne | "Woman Beside the Phone" | |
| Frankie McBride | "You're Not There at All" |
| Draw | Artist | Song | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Pat McGeegan | "Chance of a Lifetime" | |
| 6 | Anna McGoldrick | "Gleann Na Smól" | |
| Alma Carroll | "Give Me All Your Love" | ||
| Anne Bushnell | "Ballad to a Boy" | ||
| Tommy Drennan | "If You Love Me" | ||
| Roly Daniels | "Look for Love" | ||
| Frances McDermott | "Since the Spring" | ||
| Gregory | "You Can't Have Everything" |
The final was held on 3 March 1968 in the RTÉ Studios in Dublin, Ireland and hosted by Brendan O'Reilly. The results were decided by 10 regional juries.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anna McGoldrick | "Gleann Na Smól" | 4 | 5 | |
| 2 | Tony Kenny | "Bright Butterfly" | 0 | 7 | |
| 3 | Frances McDermott | "Since the Spring" | 2[4] | 6 | |
| 4 | Pat McGeegan | "Chance of a Lifetime" | 15 | 1 | |
| 5 | Tina | "One Love Two" | 13 | 3 | |
| 6 | Pat Lynch | "Kinsale" | 14 | 2 | |
| 7 | Alma Carroll | "Give Me All Your Love" | 12 | 4 |
Ireland started at number 14 in the startfield and finished 4th with 18 points.
