Cork North-Central: Colm Burke ends near four-decade campaign to win spot in Dáil
Day two in Cork North-Central saw Fianna Fáil and Solidarity TDs hold their seats and a Fine Gael Senator end a near four-decade campaign to win a spot in the Dáil.
While the first day of the count was the story of Sinn Féin, it was on day two where Cork North-Central found out the bulk of its representation.
Three of the four seats still had to be filled after returning officer Martin Harvey had called a halt to the count around 11pm on the first day.
Counting resumed at Nemo Rangers GAA Club on the southside of Cork city early on Monday morning, with staff working through a handful of small counts quickly early on in the day.
The picture had been quite clear from the first count when Padraig O'Sullivan, the Fianna Fáil TD, had surged into a strong second place behind Sinn Féin's Thomas Gould, and Colm Burke, the Fine Gael Senator, had established himself in third.
Mr O'Sullivan was eventually propelled over the line after the transfers from Fianna Fáil running mates Sandra Murphy and Tony Fitzgerald.
While it was good news for Fianna Fáil to retain the seat in Cork North-Central - the constituency of Jack Lynch - the party was a little disappointed that they did not manage to take two.
The entry of Kenneth O'Flynn, a former Fianna Fáil councillor who turned Independent for this election, could have been costly for them, with Mr O'Flynn soaking up some city votes that may have otherwise gone to another Fianna Fáil candidate.
Ultimately, Mr Fitzgerald, a former Lord Mayor of Cork, was unable to pick up enough transfers to stay in the race having also seen the Sinn Féin transfers heavily favour Mick Barry early in the count.
That gave the Solidarity TD a strong position which he didn't relinquish. He was the last man standing from the class of 2016.
On the final count, Mr Barry was deemed elected without reaching the quota when Mr O'Flynn was eliminated.
But, perhaps the most interesting story of the day was Colm Burke, the Fine Gael Senator who first ran for the Dáil in the 1980s. While Mr Burke was a Senator coming into the election and has previously been an MEP, City Councillor and Lord Mayor, he had never been elected to the Dáil.
Amid the speculation that this could be his last chance to run, Mr Burke also had to deal with the headache of Dara Murphy's attendance and expenses record and the party's relative lack of response to the matter.
All of these factors coupled with Fine Gael's own relative downturn in some areas could have scuttled Burke's chance once again but he rose to the challenge and was finally elected to the Dáil on the final count without reaching the quota.
It prompted a huge cheer in the room, with Tánaiste Simon Coveney among those who had returned to the count centre to see Mr Burke elected.
It was a disappointing election for the Greens and Labour, though.
After the first count, Oliver Moran of the Greens looked to be in with a chance of the fourth seat but he just did not prove transfer-friendly.
Ultimately Moran was eliminated on the thirteenth count.
For Labour, it was an even worse day, though. John Maher had been viewed as an outside bet for the seat by many but found himself squeezed out by the vote that went to Gould and Barry. After a strong by-election performance, there were higher hopes for Mr Maher but, as a first-term councillor, he will surely return in future elections.