Young Derry girls takes her singing talent to the All-Ireland stage

A young Derry girl has come second in an All-Ireland talent competition.

Nine-year-old Cora Harkin was the runner up in the Teenstars Singing Contest All Ireland Final 2017 last weekend.

More than 1,200 from throughout Ireland entered the competition.

Cora, a pupil at St Patrick’s Primary School in Pennyburn, competed in the 8 to 14-year-old category and she was the youngest girl in the final and the only act from Ulster.

Thirty acts performed in the Red Cow Hotel in Dublin on Saturday night.

The winner was Erin Fanning from Dublin who sang Jennifer Hudson’s I am Changing.

Cora chose to sing Good Morning Baltimore from the musical Hairspray in the final.

This was a risky choice as it involved a lot of stage presence as well as holding the big notes.

It paid off though as it was unique in comparison to the big ballads that she had performed up until this point.

The competition was rewarding for Cora and helped her performance develop. Cora performed 7 times in total in this competition, improving each time.

She took on board advice from the judges on how to improve her stage presence and performance and this paid off as feedback on her final’s performance from the judges was overwhelmingly positive.

Judge Allison Grace Saul described her final’s performance as her best.

In the recent past, Cora has been a finalist in Talent North West; Opportunity Knocks; and Teenstars 2017.