Party poppers popped, pipes played and a function room packed with people serenaded their man. It was a final rally for Nally, and opinion polls or no opinion polls, there was still a race to be won. That he was dragging behind meant nothing to the 500 or so supporters who squeezed into the ballroom of the Tower Hotel in Waterford.
"Sure it only matters on the day," they reassured each other over and over again. "And those polls were taken when that Caden/Harris business was in full swing."
"Everyone is saying this is a two-horse race," said Nally's campaign manager, John Dunne, "but this is to say `Hey folks we're still here.' " One supporter thought that a story concerning McAleese in one of the Sunday papers might just boost Nally's vote. There was nothing wrong with Derek Nally's timing as he pulled up at a quarter to three outside the hotel. With his hands outstretched in front of his face he posed for a photographer. It means that he's a safe pair of hands we were told. But one passer-by didn't agree. "You're the one who wanted to bring in extradition," he said. "You are antiIrish," he added accusingly.
"I'm not," retorted Nally. "I'm anti-criminal."
This dissenting voice was only an isolated ripple in the sea of support that greeted Nally once inside the hotel. All around him supporters from his home county of Wexford and other areas in the southeast heaped encouraging words on their candidate.
"Go for it, Derek", "Good man yourself" or the somewhat optimistic "Congratulations, Your Excellency".
Pat Cox MEP further galvanised the gathering as he spoke of how he had been "deeply touched" by the "moral courage" of the man they were about to see. Would they join him in welcoming one of Ireland's "Great, great unsung modern Irish heroes".
Then Nally, flanked by his two daughters, Louise and Laurena, and his wife, Joan, emerged from the end of the hall. Two pipers in full regalia accompanied him in. His only pact was with the people, he told the delighted crowd. "I pledge myself to stand by my vision of the Republic. I invite the people of Ireland to stand with me." And then it was the turn of the crowd who swarmed around the candidate and took over the balloon festooned stage. "There is only one Derek Nally. One Derek Nally. One Derek Nalleee" they sang to the tune of a well-known football chant. Now, it seemed, it was up to the rest of the country to hear their song.