 Over 300 entries were submitted, and a jury panel, headed by Irish Eurovision winner Linda Martin, selected six finalists for the competition, which were revealed on 13 February 2009.The songs were premiered on 19 February 2009 on "The Derek Mooney Show", broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.The first entry to be confirmed to be competing at "Eurosong 2009" was "I Wish I Could Pretend" performed by Latvian singer Kristīna Zaharova.