Pat McGeegan's Fourth-Place Balances Cliff's Agony

MAY 15 1968 · 12:15

Pat McGeegan · "Chance of a Lifetime" · Ireland · 1968 Placement: 4 · Score: 18 · Language: English · Composers: John Kennedy · Venue: Royal Albert Hall · Host: London, United Kingdom · Type: deep cut · Broadcast: pre color McGeegan, a Northern Irish tenor representing the Republic, sings a lilting optimist's anthem at the Royal Albert Hall the night Massiel beats Cliff Richard by a single point. His 4th place with 18 points makes almost no headlines — London is too busy arguing about whether Franco bought the contest. McGeegan goes home to Belfast and the Troubles begin the following year. Context McGeegan was the father of boxer Barry McGuigan, a detail that becomes a footnote. John Kennedy, the composer, was an Ulster songwriter who'd write several RTÉ contenders through the 1970s. Ireland's strong early-round pattern — top-5 in 1967 and 1968 — was already a pipeline story. Legacy Barry McGuigan's 1985 world featherweight title reframed his father's 1968 card retrospectively as a pre-history. Pat McGeegan continued performing in Ulster clubs through the 1990s. The 1968 Royal Albert Hall broadcast is one of the most-watched pre-color Eurovision recordings because of the Cliff/Massiel controversy.