How it started ...
They came and they counted and counted and counted.
Thirty-nine hours after ballot boxes opened, the constituency of Wicklow had yet to fill a second seat.
Wicklow is a fascinating constituency, dropping from five seats to four, with all the real drama playing out right at the very end.
From the time the first boxes were opened on Saturday morning, the holders of the first three seats were clear.
The Taoiseach would romp home and do so with a handsome surplus.
By contrast, the Green's Steven Matthews would be one of those outgoing TDs not returning to Leinster House.
He conceded defeat within the first few hours, admitting openly that he was "gutted" but would go through it all again if he thought he could play a part in policy reform.
There was no question but that Sinn Féin's John Brady would hold his seat, albeit with a much reduced share of the vote. In part, that was due to a major chunk of his vote being hived off to the new Wicklow-Wexford constituency.
Ditto for Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats who outperformed expectations and, in the end, clinched the second seat.
However, there was only one topic of discussion that concentrated minds for much of the weekend.
What would happen with the last seat? Would Health Minister Stephen Donnelly be able to cling on? Would he be ousted by the Taoiseach's new running mate Edward Timmins.
The omens were not good for Stephen Donnelly from early on.
His share of the vote was down. He received just 6.2% of first preference votes. He was behind the Taoiseach's running mate from the second count on.
Multiple eliminations varied the arithmetic - but only slightly.
He remained under a thousand votes behind the Fine Gael candidate from west Wicklow for hours, then the gap stretched to 1,320 and hovered stubbornly around that mark for subsequent counts.
Team Donnelly was not about to throw in the towel however; Jennifer Whitmore had 800 of a surplus to distribute.
Could they bring a hop of the ball for Donnelly, her former party colleague and constituency neighbour?
Or might the eliminations of those candidates closer to Donnelly's home base of Greystones inch him above Timmins?
His supporters were eyeing up Joe Behan's votes after the votes of Steven Matthews were distributed.
After all in Wicklow, they say, votes don't cross the mountain. (Except they clearly did when Harris's transfers were being doled out...)
As the hours ticked slowly by, the faintest of hope gave way to acceptance.
Edward Timmins, buoyed by a 45% surplus of votes from Simon Harris, and a final transfer of 1,600 votes on the elimination of his former party colleague-turned Independent Shay Cullen, pulled further ahead.
This just could not be turned around for Stephen Donnelly.
His race was run.
The high-profile, high-spending minister was out of a job.
He said there was a strong Government vote there, but it went to the Taoiseach and not to him.
Politics is a cruel mistress.
How it ended ...
