Sinn Féin has given notice that it can become a significant Dáil player,writes Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent.
Sitting in RTÉ's radio election studio late on Saturday night, Sinn Féin's Mr Pat Doherty could barely hide his glee as the evidence mounted of Sinn Féin gains.
Though the counting had not even begun, Mr Doherty was predicting that Sinn Féin would win nearly 60 city and county council seats, along with scores of town council seats.
Questioned by RTÉ's Seán O'Rourke about the party's voting tallies, Mr Doherty, with confidence running high, replied emphatically: "They're right. We are NEVER wrong."
The eyebrows of the other studio panellists, some of whom, like Fine Gael's Mr Frank Flannery, have seen the high and lows of politics, arched sharply.
For now, Sinn Féin is convinced that the good days for the party have arrived, and that they are not going to go away. Friday's votes, if repeated in a Dáil election, would give 14/15 seats.
Equally delighted, Mr Martin McGuinness said the SDLP had for years fooled itself about its vote losses to Sinn Féin. "They explained it away by saying that this was a transition thing, that the votes would come back. But the votes did not come back."
Though many seats still remain to be decided, the theme is clear: Sinn Féin scored heavily in Dublin, improved significantly in many other areas, and is set to take a Euro seat. Just as significantly, for a party that has learned to play the long game, it has established beachheads in new constituencies that will be exploited in times to come.
Most significantly, the gains have come heavily at the expense of Fianna Fáil, an outcome that will be enough to strike deep concern into the hearts of the Soldiers of Destiny.
In some places, the result could even have been greater if vote management had been better.
In Dublin's Artane, Mr Larry O'Toole won by a mile with 4,497 first preferences; in Finglas, Mr Dessie Ellis romped home with 4,300, while Mr Nicky Kehoe was equally triumphant in Cabra.
The O'Toole majority, coupled with the result achieved by Mr Killian Forde in next-door Donaghmede, would guarantee a Dáil seat next time out, though whether Mr O'Toole or Mr Forde, who performed superbly with 3,509 first preferences, will be the candidate is unclear.
Sinn Féin will also have opportunities in the three-seat Dublin West constituency, which takes in Finglas, Ballymun and Whitehall, though Mr Ellis may have competition for the contest from Mr Ray Corcoran, who succeeded in neighbouring Ballymun-Whitehall.
In Dublin's south inner-city, Mr Daithí Doolan has finally made it onto a seat in Dublin City Council, and will threaten the Green Party's Mr John Gormley for a Dáil place.
Sinn Féin general secretary Mr Robbie Smyth said: "We will be looking at Waterford, the two Donegal constituencies, Galway East, possibly Mayo and Wexford. There was huge consolidation in Meath, where we will go from having one councillor to having four.
"We would not see the Louth gains as ones that just make Arthur Morgan's seat safe," Mr Smyth said. "It is about getting representation where we did not have it, and about running for second seats."
However, the greater representation now enjoyed by Sinn Féin will bring responsibilities as well as opportunities, and force the party to take difficult stands.
In the past, two of its Dublin councillors famously went absent from one Dublin City Council meeting that was faced with increasing bin charges or dissolution by the Government. Bin charges rose.
However, Mr Smyth does not agree that Sinn Féin avoided difficult decisions: "These weren't hard decisions. They were the wrong decisions. They did not address the problem correctly."
Though Fianna Fáil has suffered a badly bloodied nose from Sinn Féin, Mr Smyth accepts that the next phase of Sinn Féin's campaign will be equally hard.
"They have been thinking long-term, almost as long-term as we do. They were ready to weather this storm. They have been saving a war chest," he said.
In addition, Sinn Féin's policy platform will now be examined like never before. Up to now, it has been able to say only that tax rules should be reviewed.
Sinn Féin has reaped a rich harvest from an electorate angry and disillusioned with Fianna Fáil, but those same voters also want to pay low taxes.