MARY BYRNE sailed into the next round of ITV's X Factorlast night after being praised for a return to form.
Saturday was "Beatles night" on the show, with Byrne singing the George Harrison-penned Somethingfrom the 1969 album Abbey Road.
The song was an obvious fit for the checkout worker as it has also been covered by one of Byrne’s musical heroes, Shirley Bassey.
The Dubliner’s rendition was well received by the judges, making it the first time in weeks that Byrne avoided criticism.
“Mary, when you are on it, you are on it,” said Dannii Minogue. “You could feel that on stage tonight. That was up there with your best, best performances.”
Fellow judge Cheryl Cole also remarked on Byrne’s conviction,
“I think the beauty of you is you sing with such experience; it is because you have lived life.”
Louis Walsh, Byrne’s mentor on the show, said he was relieved to see the 51-year-old’s confidence returning.
“Mary’s got her mojo back,” he said. It was very emotional. I believed every word of it.”
When presenter Dermot O’Leary asked Byrne what she made of the comments, she said: “I feel fabulous.
“That’s the type of song I love to do. I’m a big woman and I love to have big songs beltin’ out of me.”
Boyband One Direction, which features Mullingar's Niall Horan, were also voted through to the next round for their cover of All You Need Is Love.
Cher Lloyd and Paije Richardson were forced to compete against each other in the Sunday night sing-off after receiving the least number of viewers’ votes.
All four judges agreed that both contestants deserved to remain in the competition but Richardson was eliminated by a ratio of three to one.