The people of Fermoy have well and truly gotten behind local girl Kelly Mongan in her bid to win The Voice of Ireland competition.

Kelly’s powerful performance of the Kelly Clarkson song ‘A Moment Like This’ on the live show last Sunday night on RTE wowed the judges and voters and put her through to the next round. She came out on top of Kian Egan’s other acts in the voting stakes and scored an impressive 29 votes from the judges with sevens from Sharon, Bressie and Jamelia and an eight from coach Kian. Sharon Corr told Kelly she was ‘incredibly brave’ to take on the song. Jamelia told her that her vocals were great while Kian said he thought she’d done ‘a fantastic job’.

There was much made of the fact that Kelly is eight months pregnant at this stage and she took all the good-natured joking and comments in her stride.

Kelly recently took part in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Fermoy where she got a warm reception from the crowd. She was also mentioned and wished well by members at the monthly meeting of the town council where Cllr John Murphy said he believed the town would get behind her and support her.

Last week Kelly told The Avondhu that she was very grateful for the support she’s received from local retailers. Toss Bryans, SuperValu and Mellerick’s pharmacy have all rowed in with support and it’s understood other initiatives are planned to help boost her chances of winning the competition.