Tale of the tallies in Cavan-Belturbet

100% of MD boxes opened.

The emergence of Fianna Fáil's Áine Smith as a new force in local politics, albeit having been co-opted onto her late father Séan's seat last council term has certainly skewed the shape of Cavan-Belturbet MD.

Her popularity has eaten into the support given to the likes of running mate John Paul Feeley who topped the poll in 2019.

All boxes have been opened, with the postal votes being sorted at the moment.

Smith looks on course, alongside Independent Brendan Fay, to get elected in the first count with a surplus of around 300 votes each to be divvied up after.

She looks on course also to poll almost as high than her father ever did in any of the six elections he contested since 1991.

According to tallies, she polled massively in Bawnboy and Currin NS, her home area and where she currently teaches at St Mogue's College. There was a big turnout in her favour too in the likes of Killeshandra and in areas around Cavan Town.

By comparison, Séan Smith only got 11.84% of the overall vote in 2019, and his best was in 1999 (18.33%).

Fay meanwhile is well on course to do better than five years ago, improving on the vote he got previously in Cavan Town, in Killeshandra, and holding on to strong support received in Greaghrahan.

Sinn Féin's Damien Brady has bounced back in a way that many did expect. He lost his seat in 2019, polling only 718 first preferences.

He's at least 20 per cent above that figure now and can only be considered to be in the realm of relative safety.

As for the rest, there is a worrying drop off in support for Fine Gael.

Madeleine Argue, who received 1,225 (13.02%) first preferences in 2019, was replaced on the ballot by her daughter Niamh Brady who has, thus far, only tallied 10.2%.

As stated, Feeley who topped the poll five years ago (15.02%) is now only on 9.9%, is followed by Patricia Walsh on 9.7%, down from 11.26%.

Then there's Fine Gael's Peter McVitty on 9.5% (10.14% in 2019) and hoping for either or both Brady's to help him get over the line.

Michael 'Bricker' Wall (SF) on 8.7% will be hoping for some of the same if he is to stand a chance. He picked up the votes Daniel Downey got in 2019 and then some.

The also rans, even at this early stage, include Labour's Liam van der Spek (3.5%), Aontú's Tinko Tinev (2.3%), the Green Party's Kevin Murphy (1%) and former Operation Transformation star, Independent Susuana Komolafe (0.6%).