How it started ...
This is Dublin Mid-West, where 17 candidates battled it out for five seats, with a boundary change giving the constituency an additional TD since 2020.
Last time, this was one of Sinn Féin's major success story, as Eoin Ó Broin and Mark Ward dominated the ballot, hiving off 44% of the vote for themselves.
Their success was such that the party considered running three candidates in this election, but ultimately thought the better of it.
In the end, the two outgoing TDs dominated again, though their share of the vote was down on 2020.
Mr Ó Broin topped the poll as expected, pulling 9,892 votes and elected on the first count with a handsome surplus, though not quite handsome enough to elect Mr Ward on the second count, as in the last election.
Mr Ward had to wait until count 9 to reach the quota with 7,923 votes and confirm his re-election, a count that also saw outgoing Gino Kenny lose his seat.
The Solidarity-PBP TD would have known he faced an uphill battle, receiving just 2,608 first preferences.
Gains made by right-wing candidates in this year's local elections did not break through to the General Election, but transfers from excluded Aontú and Irish Freedom Party candidates gave Independent Ireland's Linda de Courcy enough votes to push past Mr Kenny and see him excluded.
Outgoing Fine Gael TD Emer Higgins comfortably retained her seat in the end, with running mate Vicki Casserly's elimination benefiting her hugely and pushing her over the top with 8,580 votes and a surplus of 667.
The story of the day was the return of Paul Gogarty to the Dáil, nearly 15 years after he lost his seat during the Green Party's 2011 collapse.
An independent councillor, Mr Gogarty steadily hoovered up transfers throughout the day, with a large chunk of Ms Casserly's transfers effectively putting him beyond reach.
Aside from shoring up her running mate's re-election, Ms Casserly's distribution hugely favoured her fellow Lucan councillors Mr Gogarty and Fianna Fáil's Shane Moynihan, to the detriment of their SDCC colleague, Clondalkin's Social Democrat councillor Eoin Ó Broin.
In the end, Dublin Mid-West elected just one Eoin Ó Broin, the distribution of Ms Higgins' surplus merely confirming what was already apparent.
Mr Moynihan took the lion's share of the 667 votes, propelling him into fourth place with 7,231 votes and regaining the seat that Fianna Fáil narrowly missed out on in 2020.
While Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman may have been the only member of his party returned to the Dáil in this election, he may at least find a kindred soul on the opposition benches with Mr Gogarty confirmed in the fifth and final seat with 7,106 votes.
How it ended ...
