Victory down to hard work - Boxer

Poll-topper Kevin "Boxer" Moran hailed his barnstorming 1,771 first preference votes in the Athlone Area county council elections as a direct result of sheer hard work over the last five years. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent in St Mary"s count centre after being elected on the first count with 266 votes to spare, the jubilant Fianna Fáil councillor, who had travelled from Athlone after his re-election to Athlone Town Council after also topping the poll there, described the result as 'absolutely out of this world.' 'It has caught me by surprise, I didn"t expect now to get where I am today, particularly with the national trends. I had a woeful canvass team and woeful amount of people behind me and it just shows you that when people get behind you, you can deliver. But it"s down to hard work.' He continued: 'This thing of saying just because you are a member of Fianna Fáil will get you elected first time out or last time out, whatever the case may be is wrong. On today"s result people supported me because they know I"m a worker'. Despite the bashing Fianna Fáil took nationwide, the party vote in Westmeath held up well in comparison to many counties, albeit with a fall of over 6% on five years ago. In this climate, the Cornamagh based public representative"s stunning performance to head the poll and actually increase his first preference vote by over 33% on the 2004 figure is particularly noteworthy. 'Words fail me, I find it hard to describe it. I was in hospital prior to the campaign so then I came back out and rallied the people behind me. We were in Coosan at a cumann meeting there were nearly 63 people, all young and old getting behind me. Then on the canvass trail you nearly had to tell some of them to go home, there were too many every night.' An emotional Cllr Moran thanked his wife, two sons, members of his family and his extensive team for their part in his victory. 'It"s a great thing for the people of Coosan who came out in huge numbers and I knew after canvassing Coosan that the wind was at my sail because the people were outstanding behind me. They told me "Why did you call? You knew the vote was there."' He added: 'People say "Boxer, you do a lot of work in Coosan", but if you open the ballot box today it proves I do work everywhere. I have delivered right across the county. I"m absolutely delighted and I"m delighted for Fianna Fáil because the talk was us of probably getting nothing at, all just holding two seats. But we"ve proved it here. I"m first in, and Frankie will be behind me so the trend is there for us.' Boxer concluded that Saturday was a long day and, after an intensive four-week election campaign, he was off to as he said himself 'have a pint and enjoy myself'.