Eamon Gilmore hits back - Gilmore blows a gale on Burton

LIKE football managers and coaches, the fortunes of party political leaders are only as good as their last result.

Keep on winning either on the pitch or the ballot box and they get to keep their job and bask in all the glory that repeated success brings. However, once they hit a losing streak, their days are numbered.

Going from hero to zero is not a pleasant experience, as the former Labour leader Eamon Gilmore learned last year when his party’s vote collapsed in the local and European Parliament elections.