'I'm going to enjoy this moment'

Aontú councillor tops poll; five seats still up for grabs in Bailieborough Cootehill

Aontú's Sarah O'Reilly was finally announced as the poll topper for Bailieborough Cootehill electoral area in the early hours of day two of the count at Cavan Leisure.

Some 12 hours earlier the tallies had suggested the Bailieborough woman would breeze home, but as the returning officer announced she had amassed 1,770 first preference votes, Cllr O'Reilly stood seemingly transfixed at the wooden railings. Perfectly still, she stood in silence alongside her partner Adrian Rogers. After a beat the applause of all in the room seemed to puncture the moment, and her emotions surfaced as the magnitude of her achievement sunk in.

Not only did she reclaim her seat in the council chamber, and repeat her feat of 2019 in topping the poll - she actually increased her first preference vote by 66 votes.

"It was a very tough campaign," she told the Celt as she quickly composed herself. "I actually didn't think I would get elected because it was so tough. There was a lot of anger out there, but my work, which I pride myself on brought me through, like it always does."

Fine Gael

Carmel Brady is poised to claim a seat having achieved a first preference vote of 1,684, just 32 shy of the quota. Full time councillor Brady claimed the most first preferences in Cootehill, where she has worked for the past 35 years. Her home village of Bunnoe came out strong for her.

Val Smith also polled well with 1,392and is in a good position to retain a second seat for Fine Gael in this electoral area. However he may face a lengthy wait as with no other running mates, he will require transfers from candidates eliminated from across the political spectrum.

Fianna Fáil

A trio of Fianna Fáil candidates complete the top six positions with Clifford Kelly on 1,235, Cllr Aiden Fitzpatrick on 1,175 and Niall Smith on 1,088.

Kelly was dependent on Kingscourt to secure much of his vote. Aiden Fitzpatrick performed better this time out than the 905 (7.93%) of the poll he achieved in 2019.

First time runner, but long time Fianna Fáil stalwart Niall Smith did an amazing job to exceed 1,000 votes and sit in sixth place. Having entered the election with two seats in Bailieborough Cootehill, Fianna Fáil will be confident in returning two candidates, but it may take the elimination of one of their own to cross the line.

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin will still be confident of getting one councillor elected as they command a combined total of 18% of the first preference votes between running mates Stiofán Conaty 1,071, Paddy McDonald 763 votes and Marina McEntee 313 votes.

Conaty took over 400 votes in his own patch of Ballyhaise and Redhills. While it may be surprising that Conaty is ahead of McDonald; the Bailieborough stalwart could still take a seat with the lion's share of transfers from McEntee likely to come his way.

Independents

Independent Garry Cosgrove can be satisfied with his first time outing, amassing a total of 608 first preferences. His running mate Fiona McCormack didn't fare as well yet if her 202 votes go his way, she will have made a valuable contribution and keep him in the race a bit longer.

Clifford Kelly's performance in Kingscourt overshadowed Kristofer Shekleton's efforts in the town. Running for Independents Ireland he still appears to have performed well on 647 first preferences, and he will hope that some of Marina McEntee's 313 votes will come his way upon her elimination.

Likewise, John (Sean) O'Reilly was seeking votes in the crowded Kingscourt field, and having entered the race late in the day his campaign failed to ignite and he was left with 59 votes.

Platform

Sarah O'Reilly's success was based on a platform of 700 votes from her hometown - the same as five years ago. While her vote slackened in Laragh, she made gains in Shercock and Killinkere.

She was eager to praise her "small but loyal" team of supporters.

"I have to thank every single person who voted for me because every single vote was hard fought."

Her surplus of 54 votes will now be redistributed in the second count.

She wouldn't be drawn on whether she will contest the next General Election.

"I'm going to enjoy this moment."