A VICTORY so famous that it could match the great years when Jack Lynch ruled the roost, was how Fianna Fail's Mr Micheal Martin summed up his party's performance in Cork.
Not only had careful vote management given Fianna Fail six out of the 10 seats in the two Cork city constituencies, but in Cork North West, Fianna Fail - in the person of Mr Michael Moynihan - broke the Fine Gael stranglehold to take the seat held by Mr Frank Crowley for the last 16 years.
"It was an extraordinary performance. Overall, we took 11 out of the 20 seats available in Cork city and county. It brings you back to the Lynch era. We went into the election with seven out of 20 seats and came out with 11. We gained two seats in Cork North Central and in Cork North West we had a great breakthrough," said Mr Martin.
The long count in the two Cork city constituencies, which finished after 4 a.m. yesterday, produced agony and ecstasy for the candidates.
The long serving Labour TD, Mr Toddy O'Sullivan, lost out, as did Ms Mairin Quill of the PDs - much to her astonishment and Ms Kathleen Lynch of DL, whose work rate in the constituency of Cork North Central appeared to make her a safe bet.
Fianna Fail's Mr John Dennehy, a former Lord Mayor of Cork, who lost his Dail seat in 1992, made a great breakthrough in the city, as did Senator Billy Kelleher who had been knocking on the door for some time.
Counciflor Noel O'Flynn also confounded the political analysts by taking a seat for the party in Cork North Central.
According to Mr Martin, the key strategy for Fianna Fail was to select three candidates in the two city constituencies rather than four, as in the past.
Saturday proved a day of drama in the two Cork city constituencies. In Cork South Central, Fine Gael's Ms Deirdre Clune succeeded her father, Mr Peter Barry, a former Minister for Foreign Affairs, and continued the family's tradition in politics, bringing it to a third generation.
The loss of the Labour seat in the constituency by Mr O'Sullivan, who is Minister of State for Tourism, proved once again that politics is a fickle business.
Fine Gael's Mr Hugh Coveney, who failed to be nominated at the Fine Gael selection convention some weeks ago, was an easy winner on the first count, together with Fianna Fail's Mr Martin.
Mr Dan Boyle of the Green Party, who needed more than 5,009 first preferences to be in the running, found that his showing of fewer than 4,000 votes was not good enough.
It was a disappointing result for Mr Boyle, who had forecast a major breakthrough by his party.
Mr Batt O'Keeffe of Fianna Fail, representing the Ballincollig side of Cork South Central, was comfortably elected on the seventh count. The return of Fianna Fail's Mr Dennehy to the Dail marks a personal campaign of doggedness and a will to get through. He has been in politics for many years and has stamped his personality on local issues by hard work and a combative approach.
In Cork North Central, Mr Bernard Allen, whose largess as Minister of State for sport had not gone unnoticed, safely topped the poll. His doughty fighting partner, Mr Liam Burke, was also elected, as was Mr Danny Wallace of Fianna Fail. The final seat went to Mr Noel O'Flynn of Fianna Fail.
Cork North West was regarded as the easiest of all constituencies to call. The Fine Gael machine was so slick that no one could see a change in the status quo two Fine Gael seats and one for Fianna Fail. But in the event, Fianna Fail stole a march on the opposition and returned two deputies, ousting Mr Frank Crowley who had held the seat for Fine Gael 16 years.
The surprise was that Mr Michael Moynihan (28) a farmer from Kiskeam in north Cork, came from nowhere to top the poll ahead of the established Fianna Fail candidate - his namesake, Mr Donal Moynihan. In Cork South West, the two sitting Fine Gael TDs, Mr Jim O'Keeffe and Mr Paddy Sheehan, were reelected, as was Fianna Fail's Mr Joe Walsh, a former minister for agriculture.
In the four seater constituency of Cork East, Fianna Fail's Mr Ned O'Keeffe comfortably topped the poll. His running mate, Mr Michael Ahern, who was considered to have been in some difficulty, was elected on the sixth count, with a surplus of almost 800 votes. Mr Paul Bradford of Fine Gael took the third seat and, as the outgoing Labour TD, Mr John Mulvihill, conceded defeat, it was left to Mr Joe Sherlock of Democratic Left and Mr David Stanton of Fine Gael to fight it out for the last seat. Despite all his best hopes, Mr Sherlock, who has served in the Dail before and who is now a senator, lost out and Mr Stanton took the final seat.