Ireland in last place as Serbia wins Eurovision

An overwrought power ballad from Serbia's Marija Serifovic won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki last night while Ireland finished in last place.

It is the first time Serbia has won the contest and the first time Ireland has finished at the foot of the table.

The Ukraine was in second place while Russia came in third.

Once more "tactical voting" was clearly in evidence last night with many Eastern European countries in particular sticking by their close neighbours much to the chagrin of the Finnish audience who were heard to boo during some of the more cosy douze points exchanges .

It would appear that Ireland, once the darlings of the event, no longer has any friends at all in Europe and by the time the voting had finally ended You Cannot Stop the Spring, sung by Dervish and written by John Waters had been stopped dead,

It attracted just five miserable votes all of which came courtesy of Albania.

It is Ireland's worst ever performance in the contest and next year the Irish entrant will have to join the other also rans in a 'sing off' for a place  in the final.

The United Kingdom's song which was "sung" by Scooch fared little better than the Irish entry finishing in joint second last with France.

There was dancing in the streets in Serbia where thousands of people descended on the centre of Belgrade to celebrate Serifovic's victory.

Massive sing-alongs to the winning tune and car-honking echoed through the streets.

"All my life I have been singing and tonight this makes me very proud," said Serifovic, 22, who sang about love and pain in Serbo-Croat, flanked by five women dressed in black suits and ties.

"Congratulations, Marija! Serbia is very proud tonight and celebrates your success," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in a statement.

Finland hosted this year's contest because Finnish heavy metallers Lordi won it in 2006.

The bash had put the Finns in a carnival mood with 350 events organized during what was dubbed "Eurovision Week."