Crowley set to top poll ahead of Sinn Féin newcomer

Brian Crowley will once again top the poll in the Ireland South European elections with Sinn Féin newcomer Liadh Ní Riada and Fine Gael’s Seán Kelly on course to take the second and third seat.

The fourth seat in the expanded constituency was always going to be a scrap, with Fine Gael hoping its vote-management strategy would bring Cork’s Deirdre Clune or even Wicklow young gun Simon Harris over the line.

But one of the big talking points at the Nemo Rangers count centre in Cork was the relatively high transfer rate between Crowley and the other Fianna Fáil candidate, anti- pylon campaigner Kieran Hartley.