Dejected Fine Gael bosses in Kerry are this week stooping to pick up the pieces of what can only be described as a disastrous general election campaign with the party struggling to come to terms with not having a TD in the county for the first time since the 1940s.
Although publican and auctioneer Billy O’Shea polled quite well in his debut election – collecting close on 8,000 first preference votes – he was still over 5,000 shy of a quota and the disarray and frustration in the party ranks that surfaced early in the campaign certainly raised its head again on polling day.
Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
As it transpired, Fianna Fáil’s three-candidate strategy was a master stroke given that Michael Cahill benefited to the tune of over 600 transfers from Linda Gordon Kelleher while O’Shea – as the sole FG candidate – was left looking desperately over his shoulder for the transfer cavalry that never arrived.
In the immediate aftermath of the election, Fine Gael party stalwarts complained that headquarters got it horribly wrong in that, while O’Shea did his level best, he had no realistic chance of success without a running mate who would transfer strongly to the former Kerry footballer.
Where else did they expect the help to come from?
The simple fact of the matter is that, after the first count, O’Shea was just over 300 votes adrift of Cahill and, with support from a running mate to rely on, he could have been right up there in contention.
Brendan Griffin had Mike Kennelly alongside him in 2020. Both Jimmy Deenihan and Grace O’Donnell were on the ballot paper with Griffin in 2016. Tom Sheahan ran in Kerry South with him in 2011. And even back in the days when Michael Begley ruled the roost, he always had a running mate, with Michael O’Connor Scarteen, Paul Coghlan and Tom Randles immediately springing to mind.
Why then a one-candidate strategy all of a sudden? A rush of blood to somebody’s head, no doubt.
Kerry County Council member, Angie Baily – who would have been a great candidate in her own right – summed it up on Sunday evening when suggesting that the party had erred by bypassing local councillors who have their ear to the ground and know what the people want.
When FG strategist Olwyn Enright made a whistle-stop visit to Kerry prior to the convention, experienced and proven vote winners like Cllr Mike Foley and Cllr Mike Kennelly in Listowel and Cllr Tommy Griffin in Keel were more or less told to leave the pitch to make room for the former Laune Rangers and Kerry wing forward.
Even Billy O’Shea’s greatest supporter within the party, former TD Jimmy Deenihan, has admitted that the strategy had backfired and the former corner back from Finuge acknowledged that there is now need for some serious soul searching and analysis of the situation.
The days of parachuting in former inter-county footballers and expecting them to do the business, without serving an apprenticeship at a local level, look numbered.
The fact that Kerry returned two Fianna Fáil TDs to Dáil Éireann, in addition to the FF gene pool Healy-Rae brothers and Sinn Fein’s Pa Daly is a clear indication that Fine Gael has lost favour with the Kerry electorate and it could be a long way back.
Fianna Fáil on the other hand, will be rejoicing that the party won a second seat at the expense of the old enemy.
The three candidate plan worked tremendously well in that a 600-plus transfer from Linda Gordon Kelleher, in the 10th count, not only put Cahill in the driving seat but it keyed Dáil Éireann into his Google Maps.
Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
At that stage the veteran Rossbeigh councillor was over 1,000 votes ahead of O’Shea and it was game, set and match for Fianna Fáil who had already seen Norma Foley safely past the post.
Gordon Kelleher herself will have been disappointed with her 2,024 first preference showing given that she had been expected to glean much bigger support in the Killarney Municipal District.
She and her supporters had stressed, time and again as the campaign progressed, that as another FF-FG coalition was most likely, she was the only candidate capable of being the Killarney voice in government but, somewhat strangely, considering the complete lack of an adequate infrastructure in the town, Killarney seems to be quite satisfied that it is doing fine as it is.
Pa Daly’s vote was down significantly on 2020 but he still had more than enough to ensure that Sinn Fein in Kerry will have a presence in the next Dáil.
Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
He was being tipped by some of his canvassers as the next Minister for Justice, if Mary Lou McDonald managed to outsmart and out-perform Micheál Martin and Simon Harris, but, given the state of the parties in the 34th Dáil, that now looks a non-runner.
And what can be said about the incredible Healy-Rae organisation that hasn’t already been uttered several times before?
At this stage they could feel fully justified if they adopted the James Bond theme Nobody does it better as their official anthem for future campaigns such is their magnet-like vote winning expertise and to garner over 27,000 votes between them was, once again, a truly astonishing feat.
Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
Simply put, there is no substitute for hard graft. And they prove that time after time after time.
Younger brother Michael has indicated that his mobile phone is always switched on, should the FF or the FG leaders feel the urge to get in touch with him in the days ahead, and the bookies have slashed the odds on a deal being brokered with a handful of Independent TDs to 4/11.
Don’t rule it out.
In the meantime, whatever the shape of the new administration, Fine Gael in Kerry can take consolation that it is likely to have five long years to get its house in order. But expect to see some dirty linen washed in public in the interim.
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