Craic On

This has been rescued from 2011 archive of old version of CraicOn.

Cork Man

Cork Man, Lawrence Hackett, won the Moville Songwriters Contest after three heats, two semis and a final with his song When We Do Fall.

There was a large crowd at the Sean Ti to see him win it last night.

The evening was sponsored by Bredin Guitars, who supplied all the equipment and acted as sound engineers for the night and publicans Kevin Cavanagh, Mick Cavanagh and Eddie Harkins of the Sean Ti, Rawdons and Rosatos.

Songs

There were nineteen songs altogether.

The normal format we’ve used is a cover song followed by an original.

That was so that the audience would know a good few of the songs rather than listening to a whole load that they didn’t know.

However, 38 songs would have been too much, especially as the DylanFest on the Lough premiere was to be shown too so we kept it down to the 19 original songs.

It worked pretty well as the songs were of a good standard and some were exceptional.

Conferred

The judges conferred while the DylanFest on the Lough video played.

There was a special cheer for Coca Joe when he appeared in it playing at the White Wall in early July overlooking the Lough.

At that stage, after the judges had put their marks together, the result was:-

1. Next Time Around – Sean O’Neill
2. When Do We Fall – Lawrence Hackett
3. Lay Me Down – James McIvor
4. We’ve Got the Life – Debbie McDaid and Geraldine Cavanagh
5. You Know Who – Lawrence Hackett
6. Everyone Lay Down – Paul Bredin
7. The Sailor and the Saint – James O’Donnell

Sung Again

However, the judges wanted to see the top 7 songs again and the voting hadn’t come in from the audience yet.

They conferred again and then the results were announced.

It was:-

1. Lawrence Hackett
2. Debbie and Geraldine
3. Sean O’Neill

Back In

Sean O’Neill’s song Next Time Around had actually been put out at the Rawdon’s semi final, after he had come all the way from Dublin to sing it, but on appeal he got back in.

So, it’s not bad to finish 3rd out of 19 in the final.

Lawrence actually lives in Derry now and had a good few friends along to see him win and get the €300.

Great Night

It was a fabulous night and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

I was asked if we I would do it again next year.

I don’t know, because for some of the performers they were picking from a lifetime of songs so it may have to be a one off.

However, we’ll see.