The outgoing agriculture minister had a long wait from the time counting began in what is commonly known as the "group of death" constituency in Cork south central.

Counting began there early on Saturday morning, with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and the party’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath both elected on the first count to two of the four seats available, both over-reaching the quota of 11,137 votes.

Coveney looked comfortable in third place throughout the counting, except for a moment on the sixth count when Sinn Féin's Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire looked like he might overtake Coveney in third, leaving the outgoing minister in battle for fourth place with his colleague Jerry Buttimer of Fine Gael.

However, Buttimer conceded defeat some time after the ninth count, leaving Coveney in prime position for retaining his seat in the 32nd Dáil.

Coveney remained comfortable in third place following the tenth count on Sunday afternoon. On this count Coveney got 724 transfers bringing his total to 9,315 and pushing him further ahead of Sinn Féin's Ó Laoghaire who only picked up 160 votes and was at 8,526.

However, following the eleventh and final count, just after 2pm on Sunday, Coveney was re-elected to the Dáil in fourth place with 10,372 votes, just short of the quota.

Ó Laoghaire, a first-time general election candidate, pipped Coveney to the post at third place on the final count.

Coveney is the only Fine Gael candidate to retain his seat in the Cork south central constituency, a constituency that saw support for Fianna Fáil surge by 13.6% compared to the 2011 general election.

Fine Gael suffered as much in Cork south central as it has in other constituencies around the country in this election, with a drop in support of 8.9% on 2011. Labour had the worst performance in the constituency with a drop in support of 14.2%.

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