Monivea's Dolan in contention for a Council seat

The final tally figures for the Athenry-Oranmore area show that three independents are set to be elected to the seven-seater district.

Ind James Charity from Corrandulla, Jim Cuddy from Carnmore and Gabe Cronnelly in Athenry have polled strongly and are likely to be elected once counting gets underway.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael should win the remaining four seats, with two going to each party.

Monivea’s young Albert Dolan, son of former Galway East general election candidate Michael F Dolan, is optimistic about his chances of taking a seat at County Hall with the tally showing him secure nearly 14% of the vote.

Interestingly Dolan topped the polling station of Newtown NS in Abbeyknockmoy. This was formerly in the Tuam area and where FG candidate Pete Roche polled very well in 2014.

David Collins in Turloughmore has performed well for Fine Gael but the party will be disappointed with the numbers of Helen Jennings in Athenry, who is aiming to retain outgoing Cllr Peter Feeney’s seat.

Sinn Fein’s Louis O’Hara doesn’t seem to be in contention at this early stage and won’t catch former SF member Game Cronnelly who ran this time as an independent.

Early tally numbers indicated that former Mayor of Co Galway Liam Carroll, who lost his seat in 2014, would struggle to gain it back. However, it’s extremely tight between a number of candidates and who will gain the second Fine Gael and second Fianna Fail seats in the district will be down to transfers.

Independent candidate Josette Farrell has polled well in her core area of Claregalway while organic grower in Corrandulla Kenneth Keavey, while not in contention for a seat, did manage to pick up votes across the district for the Green Party.

FF’s Michael Hannon should benefit once candidates begin to be eliminated as will FF’s Shelley Herterich in Athenry