Swing away from FF bigger than Olympian O'Callaghan's throw

One of Seamus Healy's first messages as a TD was that it was time for the Government to "go to the country".

After by-election defeats in Cork, Limerick and now Tipperary, however, Fianna Fail must be sick of going to the country. But it wasn't so much the fact as the extent of the latest reverse that will have made last night's journey back to Dublin a long one for headquarters staff.

From early morning in the Dr Pat O'Callaghan Sports Complex - named after the Clonmel man who won two Olympic gold medals for hammer-throwing - the story of Fianna Fail's vote collapse vied with that of Healy's surge.

The party's first by-election elimination anyone could remember loomed; and tallymen were using a strange new term, "Fianna Fail transfers", in predicting the result of what was now a two-horse race between the Clonmel Independent and Fine Gael's Tom Hayes.

When the official first count was announced it confirmed the worst for the Government party: its vote was 14 per cent down on the general election; Seamus Healy's 14 per cent up.

Not even Pat O'Callaghan had a swing as big as that, and nobody in Fianna Fail pretended it was good news, especially not Mary O'Rourke.

The party's deputy leader knows all about going to the country. She established her credentials in South Tipperary yesterday by telling any reporters who asked: "I've been here three weeks. Have you?"

The campaign had been a local one, she said, and Barry O'Brien had been up against "a very good fellow" who had been fighting elections since 1985. But she was making no bones about it: "It's a great disappointment for us, I'll say it straight."

Fourth on first preferences, Labour was not feeling much better. ail. But if you believed the Fine Gael spin-doctors, they were so happy with their performance that actually winning would have been just too much.

They needn't have worried. When the retired hospital administrator and now unemployment activist established beyond doubt the seriousness of his challenge by taking 1,750 transfers from Labour's Ellen Ferris, the chances of a Fine Gael win receded.

Not even the adventure of a Fianna Fail candidate's elimination and the distribution of his votes was enough to make the Healy supporters nervous.

Shortly after 5 p.m. word filtered from the count area that their man was home and - unlike the eyes of his family and followers - dry. Emotion was suddenly unbounded in the camp.

The still-unannounced victor hugged his wife, Mary, as though both their lives depended on it, and tears rolled down the cheeks of their daughters, Shelley (21), Siobhan (20), Aisling (14) and Niamh (8). Supporters were biting their lips, too.

Ellen Ferris - the only candidate who, when thanking her election workers, reminded them to take the posters down - was also emotional as she acknowledged failure to follow her late husband into Dail Eireann. Gracious in defeat, she nonetheless reminded the new TD that his was "a Labour Party seat, and we're going to take it back again in the near future".

The private view of parties across the political spectrum was that Mr Healy would be difficult to unseat. Even so, after working 15 years to win it, he might be forgiven if, in urging the Government to go to the country, his advice is not accepted for a little while yet.