Enjoy the ball Enda ... but watch out for Ugly Sisters

ENDA Kenny swept into the Burlington Hotel’s glittering ballroom as Taoiseach-in-waiting — and no one had ever been waiting for such validation for so long.

Mr Kenny had a throng of photographers and camera crews swirling around him — Enda’s time had finally arrived.

Fine Gaelers cheered wildly at the spectacle, knowing it heralded what the party had not tasted for 29 long, bitter, years — victory.