For much of the first two days of the count in Cork North Central, it looked like the story of the contest would that of Ken O’Flynn, a son of former Fianna Fáil TD Noel O’Flynn, and how he ran a slick campaign and took a seat under the Independent Ireland banner.
Arguing for greater control on immigration, O’Flynn benefited from over 1,200 transfers from far right activist Derek Blighe and he was elected on the 14th count with Fine Gael’s Colm Burke, as they followed Sinn Féin’s Tommy Gould and Fianna Fáil’s Padraig O’Sullivan into the 34th Dáil.
Earlier, it seemed the final seat could go any of five separate ways, but in the end, it came down to a battle between outgoing People Before Profit/Solidarity TD Mick Barry and 24 year old Labour newcomer, Eoghan Kenny from Mallow.
At the end of the 15th count, Barry led Kenny by one vote – 7,251 to 7,250 – but Kenny overtook him on the 16th count to lead by 84 and although Barry cut the margin to 35 votes on the 17th count, he failed to achieve the reversal of ranking he had hoped for when he asked for a full recount.
