Heartbreak for Fianna Fáil candidate pipped for the final seat in Tipperary South
Ballingarry Cllr Imelda Goldsboro congratulated Seamus Healy before departing the count centre ahead of announcment of sixth count result
There was heartbreak for Tipperary South Fianna Fáil candidate Cllr Imelda Goldsboro when her hopes of clinching the constituency's final third seat were dashed after veteran Clonmel Independent Seamus Healy jumped ahead of her in the sixth count.
The Ballingarry councillor polled the third highest first preference vote in the Tipperary South race but it wasn't enough to keep her sufficiently clear of being leap-frogged by Healy when Sinn Féin candidate Martin Browne's 6,237 votes were distributed following his elimination from the race this afternoon.
In the sixth count, announced shortly after 5.30pm, Cllr Goldsboro secured 577 transfers from the distribution of Browne's votes bringing her total to 7,848. Healy, however, secured a massive 3,285 transfers bringing his total to 9,601.
Cllr Goldsboro was present with her family in the Tipperary Count Centre at the Presentation Secondary School in Thurles this afternoon throughout the nerve-wracking sixth count of votes.
She left shortly before the count's results were announced after it became clear that Healy was going to win the final seat. Even though it was an emotional, upsetting moment for the Fianna Fáil candidate, she went over to Seamus Healy and congratulated him before departing the count centre.
This was Cllr Goldsboro's second General Election race. She previously contested the February 2020 election as one of three Fianna Fáil candidates in the former five-seater all-county Tipperary constituency.
She topped the poll in the Carrick-on-Suir Local Electoral area race in the Tipperary County Council elections in June.