Transfers from Sinn Féin helped secure the election of Fine Gael councillor Terence Flanagan ahead of outgoing Fianna Fáil TD Martin Brady.
While the constituency had been targeted by Enda Kenny's party as having the potential to deliver an extra seat, the size of the transfer from Sinn Féin councillor Larry O'Toole to Flanagan was viewed as a surprise.
Flanagan was added to the ticket when party headquarters became concerned that their celebrity candidate, entrepreneur Brody Sweeney, might not get elected.
On the fourth and final count the majority of O'Toole's transfers went as expected to outgoing Labour TD Tommy Broughan, whose election was secured at that point.
But O'Toole also transferred 843 votes to Flanagan, 842 to former Fianna Fáil minister Dr Michael Woods and just 700 to Brady. Flanagan had been just 306 votes ahead of Brady going into the last count.
Sinn Féin supporters were not surprised by the result because of the competition on the ground, but Dr Woods said Fine Gael's substantial number of transfers from Sinn Féin was "bigger than would have been expected and that changed the situation at the end of the day." Woods said of the Fianna Fáil arrangement: "We couldn't have split the vote any better. We split it 50:50. I was just over 7,000 votes and Martin was just under it and I don't think you'd do much better from that point of view."
Brady said it was a difficult constituency to deliver. He was sanguine about the result: "Bigger people than me failed today," he said.
A jubilant Flanagan was "disappointed that Fine Gael would not be in government this time but I think Enda Kenny has done a tremendous job for Fine Gael and will continue to build on that for many years to come".
Overall change: FF loss; FG gain
Outgoing TDs
Michael Woods FF
Martin Brady FF
Tommy Broughan Lab
