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Fianna Fáil look to have held off a dogged fight from Sinn Féin to secure the seventh and final seat in Longford’s Local Electoral Area, courtesy of outgoing Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi, according to tallies.

Much had been made of whether Sinn Féin could finally end an almost two decade long spell in the local political wilderness through its candidate James Donnelly.

The father of two came up just 27 votes shy of Cllr Adejinmi, finishing in an agonising eighth place overall. That said, given the close nature of the vote in Longford, there is still every chance Sinn Féin party strategists might consider calling for a recount once official numbers are divided out later this evening.

Fine Gael’s Gerry Hagan, despite a slow start owing to the opening of largely urban based boxes, turned the tallying inside Athlone’s TUS on its head when his home base of Killoe was factored into the reckoning.

The farmer and secondary school teacher took in over 600 first preferences in Cullyfad, Bawn and Meliew, ensuring a 1,051 overall total and 15.6pc of the overall voting share.

He was followed just two votes behind by fellow sitting councillor and local butcher Martin Monaghan on 1,049 votes with long-serving and fellow Fianna Fáil Cllr Seamus Butler also topping the 1,000 mark on 1,024.

Given the departures of sitting councillors John Browne (FG) and Gerry Warnock (IND), much talk going into the election was on whether the two main government parties could maximise their own political presence by taking at least one, or both of those seats.

As it panned out, first time candidates Niall Gannon (FG) and Kevin Hussey (FF) finished in fifth and sixth positions respectively.

Longford LEA tallies: 

Dave Smyth (PBP)                                70

Liam Cosgrove