Constituency wrap: Cork South West

A TWO-candidate strategy cost Fianna Fáil its sole seat as Labour ended a 30-year wait to have a West Cork candidate in Dáil Éireann.

Outgoing FF TD Christy O’Sullivan expressed disappointment that “former senior people in the party came out against me” as his battling colleague Denis O’Donovan was edged out on the last count by Labour’s Michael McCarthy.

FG’s new boys Jim Daly and Beara peninsula-based Noel Harrington retained the party’s pair of seats with the help of a third FG candidate Kevin Murphy.

The historic loss of a seat was significant for Fianna Fáil as the combined vote of its two candidates was just several hundred votes short of a quota.

Labour’s Mr McCarthy said: “It’s been a long and hard slog but the battle to regain the seat begins now.”