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COMMUNITY:IT’S A FEW HOURS before the semi-final of Tallaght’s Got Talent and singer Aisling Connolly is getting nervous. “I think I’m getting the flu,” she says. “I’m not even practising today. This is the only talking I’m going to do all day!” Connolly is one of 12 performers, from singers to modern dancers, who will be taking to the stage that night in Captain Americas restaurant in Tallaght to participate in the weekly talent show that has been attracting southwest Dubliners of all ages since it launched more than a month ago.

She needn’t have worried about the fiendish flu. Later that evening, in front of a packed house, the vibrant young Tallaght hairdresser takes to the stage with affable host Rory Campbell, who, throughout the evening, keeps the contestants relaxed and reminds the noisier sections of the audience that they should be quiet when their own friends and relations aren’t performing. After that morning’s conversation it’s hard not to worry that Connolly’s voice will fail her – but then the backing track kicks in and she launches into a pitch-perfect rendition of the complex intro to Eurythmics’ There Must Be An Angel (Playing with My Heart). The crowd goes wild.