The last three seats in Cork East were decided on count eight when Sean Sherlock (Lab) reached the quota and Fine Gael junior minister David Stanton and Fianna Fáil's new kid on the block, James O'Connor, were elected without reaching the magic figure.
Mr Sherlock admitted that at a number of stages during the count he thought he might not get re-elected, but he managed to get over the line ahead of the two others who were fancied to get elected before him.
Sinn Féin's Pat Buckley topped the poll.
The surprise of the night would be the non-election of Fianna Fáil’s Kevin O’Keeffe, who many pundits felt was a shoe-in.
His father, Ned, served as a TD from 1982 to 2011 and Kevin then took up the mantle, getting elected to the Dáil in 2011.
While the counts were on he was taking his posters down and putting them in storage.
He maintained that they might not be there that long because he could see another election in the offing sooner than people might think.
Mr O'Keeffe said he was convinced that Fianna Fáil could win two seats in the constituency and he was hoping to get the nod to recontest from his party in the next election.
Candidates: Pat Buckley (SF), Mary Linehan-Foley (Ind), James O'Connor (FF), Pa O'Driscoll (FG), Kevin O'Keeffe (FF), Liam Quaide (GP), Séan Sherlock (Lab), David Stanton (FG), Seán O'Leary (Independent), Conor Hannon (Aontú), Shane O'Grady (Independent), Frank Shinnick (Irish Freedom Party), Thomas Kiely (Independent)
