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While Michael D Higgins dominated the vote in his birthplace of Limerick, his closest rival Peter Casey achieved impressive gains in rural Limerick with large passenger populations.
Just over 41pc of Limerick city turned out to vote, while there was a 46pc turnout in the county.
In Limerick City, Peter Casey earned 23.6pc of the vote, while Michael D Higgins earned 56.9pc.
But in Limerick County, Casey earned 33.9pc of the vote, while Michael D Higgins topped the polls with 47.6pc.
In Rathkeale, where there is a significant Traveler community, Mr Casey came out on a number of boxes, at polling stations in West Limerick.
In one particular box at Rathkeale Girls National School unofficial tallies had Peter Casey topping the poll on 44pc of the vote, followed by Michael D Higgins on 40pc.
In Knocknasna, located just outside Abbeyfeale, Tallies had Mr Casey coming out on top 61 first preference votes, followed by Mr Higgins with 50, and Liadh Ni Riada third with 18 votes.
This trend was reported in Askeaton, where Casey tallies had achieved 142 first preference votes, followed by Higgins with 123.
In the city, in St Paul's booth in Dooradoyle, Mr Higgins came out of the box with 57pc of the vote and Casey coming in second with 23pc, according to unofficial tallies.
Tallies from a box in Monaleen showed Higgins on 52.1pc and Casey on 29.7pc.
In polling booths in St Michael's and at JFK National School on the Ennis Road, unofficial tallies with both areas had the first rivalry of Peter Hussein with first choice votes, with his closest rival Peter Casey securing 119 first preference votes.
Meanwhile, Limerick's only Sinn Fein TD, Maurice Quinlivan said he was "disappointed" with Liadh Ni Riada's performance.
She received 5.9pc of the vote in Limerick City, and 4.4pc of the vote in Limerick County.
"We're disappointed … there was the issue that it was not known," said Deputy Quinlivan.
"She did it better," he added.
Mr Quinlivan described the presidential debates on television and radio as "circus".
Rounding on RTE, he said: "If you look at the RTE debates, the same issues were asked for a second time, rather than teasing out other stuff and letting candidates try to expand on the platform they wanted to run on."
"The national broadcaster really has a look at how they are – I'm not making an excuse or whatever, I'm just saying, we're having a presidential campaign vision for Ireland; and I do not think that came out, and I think that (was) reflected in the (vote). "
When Mr Quinlivan said: "I do not think it was a mistake (to run Liadh Ni Riada)."
"I think this is a crucial point; it's very important to have an election regardless of the outcome of that. I think Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labor did not want this election, however Sinn Fein did not want this election, along with others that did not want this election. "
"I'll never apologize for calling an election or for letting people express their democratic mandate or their franchise. It's really important. "
Online Editors
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