Paul Hosford: Good weekend for the coalition but a bruiser for Sinn Féin

Hundreds of thousands of ballots sorted, sifted, checked, and rechecked across the country

Simon Coveney visits Nemo Rangers GAA club in Cork during the count for the European elections. Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

The waiting, Tom Petty once sang, is the hardest part.

Anyone ensconced in a count centre anywhere in Ireland on Sunday could easily attest to that as hundreds of thousands of ballots were sorted and sifted and piled and checked and rechecked in Castlebar, Cork, and Dublin and the race to the European Parliament entered its true home straight.