Drawing inspiration from a situation where others might easily have succumbed to futile self-pity, Laura May Lenehan (above) used the disappointment of early elimination from last year's All Ireland Talent Show to fuel her determination to succeed this year.

Now, the 17 years old Grange singer is preparing for the biggest night of her young life, as she lines up alongside four other hopefuls in the live television show on Sunday evening, bidding for a place in the semi-final of the popular RTE programme. She will be representing The West, under the guidance of judge, Daithi O Se.

"I actually didn't know how much I wanted this until I narrowly missed out last year. I reached the final ten in the audition process, but only the top five got through to the live shows. It was so near and yet so far, but the experience made me even more determined to get through this year," she confides.

One of ten children of Mary and Seamus, who are themselves noted performers at charity gigs around the county, the former Grange Post Primary student has taken a year out from studies to concentrate exclusively on her music career.

Singing since she was as young as eight years old, her public performances up to now have been restricted to the occasional session in her parents' karaoke show. But her involvement in the All-Ireland Talent Show has honed her ambition to be a full-time entertainer.

"The show is a great opportunity, and it's a terrific learning experience," she says. "Being on a television show which has such a huge audience is a big break in itself, but I'm hoping for even greater things. I want to win it."

It was that steely determination which drove her to give the show a second chance, having missed out so narrowly last year.

Having gone through a fairly exhaustive audition process, which initially involved competing against several hundred hopefuls in Galway before being whittled down to about 150 who eventually got to perform in front of Daithi and two other judges, Laura May then suffered the heartbreak of being told she was one of the five unfortunates from the final ten who would not be going on to the live televised show.

Many would have found the trial, not to mention the trauma, too much to repeat, but Laura May is made of sterner stuff, and her unwavering self belief allied to undoubted talent spurred her to try again.

"Daithi recognised me this year as soon as I walked into the audition, so that was a positive sign in itself. I sang Whitney Houston's 'I will Always Love You' and the Elvis song, 'In the Ghetto', and he was very impressed. He felt I was worth a second chance, and now it's up to me to make the most of it," Laura May explained.

She will be travelling to Dublin for full scale rehearsals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the live competition goes out on RTE 1 at 6.30 on Sunday evening. She's even looking forward to engaging with Dustin, who hosts a backstage show which goes out at 8 p.m. in advance of the results show at 8. 30 p.m.

Singing Whitney Houston's new song, "I look to You", Laura May will be hoping to impress the judges, Dana, John Creedon, Shane Lynch and Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh, whose marks are added to the votes submitted by members of the public.

But, most important, she'll be relying on the support from viewers all over the country, particularly from Connacht and from her native county.

The Sligo public has a great track record of supporting its own in talent competitions in the past --Tabby and the Conway Sisters enjoyed extended runs in the X Factor show --and now the North Sligo teenager is hoping for similar backing.

"It's vital first and foremost to impress the judges, because their marks are very important, but then it's down to getting those votes in from the public. I can promise that I will do the best I can with my performance, and after that I can only appeal to people to vote for me. I will need huge support to go through, because the standard of the other performers is very high," she said.

The all-important tele-vote numbers will be announced on the show on Sunday night--so, come on Sligo, get those votes pouring in for one of our own.

*The All-Ireland Talent Show goes out at 6.30 on Sunday evening, with the results show at 7 p.m. Voting numbers will be announced during the show.

- JIM GRAY