The waiting game is excruciating as candidates suffer the agony and the ecstasy 

POLITICS, like sport, is a brutal game.

It can raise you up but pull you down back down to earth just as quickly, where the peaks and troughs are exciting and heartbreaking.

This is never more true than at an election count, a microcosm of the world of politics. Counts are as personal as they are political and no matter what the outcome, there will always, always be ecstatic winners and heartbroken losers.

The 2024 general election count that took place over the weekend was no exception. From the get-go, the tally people predicted a change with Fianna Fáil looking like they’d get three seats, with incumbents Jennifer Murnane O'Connor and John McGuinness expected to retain their seats, while newcomers to the national stage Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere, Catherine Callaghan (FG) and Áine Gladney Knox (SF) were powering along in the top five.

Was there a possibility that Co Carlow could win three seats?

People began to wonder in low, quiet voices if it was possible that Carlow could snatch three seats, with Murnane O’Connor being joined in sorority by Callaghan and Gladney Knox.

“Wouldn’t Carlow be well sorted with three TDs and an MEP and all of them women?” mused former councillor John Murphy on Saturday afternoon with a twinkle in his eye.

Elsewhere, in the various quarters of the Fianna Fáil camp, party members and campaigners were looking at the real possibility that they would secure three seats, two in Kilkenny and one in Carlow. But that was only the tally predictions on first preference votes and didn’t take into consideration the foibles and quirks of transfers.

There was a lot to play for and as Saturday wore on, it was a long wait for the first count. Nature hates a vacuum and that excitement grew into apprehension as number crunchers and seasoned observers pored over the first preferences, trying to predict who would get what and from where.

Would the ghost of 2016 come back to haunt Fianna Fáil, when transfers didn’t go their way? Would Sinn Féin see both Gladney Knox and Newsome Drennan getting a seat in Leinster House?

The waiting was excruciating for the players of this most brutal game, but dreams can come true just as dreams can be dashed. An early casualty was minister of state Malcolm Noonan (Green Party), who had the grace to visit the centre on Saturday, while Adrienne Wallace (PBPS) bowed out early in the game, as did Orla Donohue (IFT) and David Egan (LR).

Áine Gladney Knox also took defeat graciously when she lost by just 132 votes to her party colleague, wishing her well with her new job.

While there was disappointment for some, for other Carlow candidates there was absolute joy, with newcomer Catherine Callaghan taking the second seat and Murnane O’Connor securing a place in the Dáil by winning the fourth seat.

So Co Carlow has not only two TDs for the first time in decades, but for the first time ever it also has two women politicians.

Dreams can come true.