She might have an unpronounceable name in Cavan-Monaghan, but their candidate was related to Michael Collins and that was all that mattered to the Fine Gael party faithful. Local Cavan TD Andrew Boylan introduced her as "Mary Banetti" to those assembled in a party headquarters festooned with pictures of founders and leaders, a portrait of Michael Collins holding pride of place. After the welcoming speeches, the presidential candidate posed for photographs under the portrait of her great-uncle.
In Cavan, MEP Joe McCartan boasted of campaigning for Gen Sean McKeown and in Monaghan, the chairman of the county council recalled that the late Gen Eoin O'Duffy was a great friend of Collins. "People will remember that when it comes to polling day," he said.
"Fine Gael deserves to have a representative in the Park after all the years' service we did for the country," said Mr McCartan, a sentiment echoed in Monaghan by local TD Seymour Crawford.
Reminding the party activists of the tradition of Mary Banotti's family, he said that for the first time, the party could expect to see a Fine Gael-backed President in the Phoenix Park.
In the Cavan county courthouse and offices, where the candidate formally signed the visitors' book, a man greeted her as "Mary Bonetti", and the chair man of the county council reminded people again of her pedigree. This did not deter the chairwoman of the urban district council, Fianna Fail's Veronica Sharkey, from adding her presence to the welcoming party.
Banotti stressed her local credentials rather than her party ones. Virginia, Co Cavan, was where she lived when she returned to Ireland with her small daughter in the early 1970s. She and had warm memories of the county and many friends there.
Banotti's local connections were proved when she visited a cake shop and cafe in the town, where she was presented with a cake inscribed in blue, "Good luck, Mary". Pauline Queenan, from Virginia, was queueing for a cup of tea with her friend Nora O'Reilly, when she saw the candidate and greeted her warmly. "I knew Mary in the Park Hotel many years ago," she said. "She's a very capable lady."
More local connections were evident in Monaghan town, where she recalled getting orders in the pharmacies for a pharmaceutical company for which she used to work. She joked about her days as a saleswoman with one pharmacist while outside party activists muttered: "We'll never get her out of there."
In the pub across the road, one man remembered seeing her on television. "Will you give me a vote?" "I'll give Dana number one and you number two, will that do?" he asked. "It will."
The candidate's friend Anne went to buy a Lotto ticket. "Get one of the scratch cards and see how we do," Banotti urged, "for instant gratification." "There is no instant gratification," replied Anne. It will be four weeks before they get any gratification from the particular lottery Mary Banotti has entered.