PRECISION Fine Fail vote management and Fine Gael's single candidate strategy were being cited for Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty's failure to unseat any of the three sitting TDs in Donegal South West.
Doherty's poor showing in the Derrybeg and Bunbeg areas against that of Dinny McGinley may have also been a factor.
In a pre-election poll in the Donegal Democrat, Doherty had been widely tipped to take the third seat while it was suggested that Pat the Cope Gallagher would be left struggling.
The poll seemed to be nothing more than a blessing in disguise for the Cope who said he was "quietly confident" all along that he would be re-elected.
As predicted, Mary Coughlan topped the poll taking more than 6,800 votes from her stronghold in the Donegal Electoral Area (DEA) which stretches from Bundoran to Glencolmcille. It was in the DEA where Dinny McGinley gained the biggest advantage over Pearse Doherty. There, McGinley picked up almost 1,200 more votes than the young Sinn Fein councillor, according to the tally men's figures. Pat the Cope Gallagher received only 939 in this area.
In the first count, McGinley had 600 more first preference votes than Doherty. And by the third and final county McGinley polled 10,281 while Doherty missed out with 9,263.
From the initial tally there were only 20 votes between Deputy McGinley and Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty in the Glenties electoral area with Doherty on 3,386 and McGinley on 3,366. Pat the Cope Gallagher took the largest vote in this area with 5,515.
However, analysis of a number of the boxes in the Derrybeg and Bunbeg areas showed McGinley taking almost twice the vote that Doherty received.
An example of this was, two of the Derrybeg boxes where McGinley took 155 and 140 votes while Doherty got 70 and 74 in the same boxes.
While the counts continued it was predicted that McGinley would take the third seat because Doherty failed to get as large a vote in his home area of Gweedore as expected.
In the Finn Valley area the four main contenders, Coughlan, Gallagher, Doherty and McGinley all polled in the region of 2,000 votes.
The tally showed the Cope took 2,897, Pearse Doherty was next highest on 2,462. Mary Coughlan got 2,457 while Dinny McGinley took 2,000.
McGinley's director of elections, Terence Slowey, was initially selected as the FG candidate in South West. However, when it became apparent that Slowey did not have the "pulling power" required, he made the painful decision to step aside to make way for McGinley.
"When we looked at the two candidate strategy with Dinny coming on the ticket with me, we realised that this would fragment the vote in Donegal South West," explained a delighted Slowey.
"I had no problem with letting Dinny run alone as long as it meant that Fine Gael would retain the seat and we done just that".
He added that they were aware of the Doherty threat from their outset and planned to "match the Sinn Fein vote from Gweedore outwards".
Meanwhile, Pearse Doherty was quick to play down talk that he lost the race for the third seat in his homeland of Gweedore.
"At the end of the day we increased our vote massively on 2002, however, there are no prizes for the most gains," said an upbeat Doherty.
"Fine Fail and Fine Gael just needed to maintain what they already had. We did not lose as such, we were just beaten by the other parties," he concluded.
Fianna Fail had their vote management down to a tee as the duo successfully fought their fourth election together. Constituents were asked to give Mary their number one and Pat a number two preference in their respective strongholds. In the end, it was Mary's transfers that pulled Pat over the finish line in second place.
