Letterkenny's Kelley Higgins plays her cards right to win Traitors Ireland

Kelley Higgins was tonight crowned as one of the three joint-winners of The Traitors Ireland in a gripping season finale.

The Letterkenny woman was among the 24 players who entered Slane Castle ready to outwit, outplay and outlast in the ultimate game of trust and deception in the new television series, winning out as she and two other Faithfuls - Vanessa Ogbonna and Oyin Adeyemi - ousted the remaining Traitors.

Dublin City University Business graduate Kelley, who is the daughter of Brian and Denise Higgins (Duffy), made it through 11 gruelling episodes to reach the final.

There, she was joined by fellow Faithfuls Vanessa - a 28-year-old content creator from Waterford and Oyin, 23, who is a model and gamer from Dublin, as well as Traitors Ben Donohue, 33, a Dublin native from the Irish Defence Forces, and Nick O'Loughlin, who is a 30-year-old estate agent from Wicklow.

Before the finale, Kelley said: “I’ve learned from this experience I can get through the tough times.”

She and Olyin took a breakfast suspicion of Nick and Ben, with Kelley perceived to be the “swing vote” with her having no particular allegiance and willing to let it play out during the round table. And so it would prove, with Kelley’s deciding vote eliminating Nick to leave just four left.

“I entered this game as a Faithful and I’ll be leaving it as a Faithful,” Kelley said ahead of the next vote.

Oyin, Kelley and Vanessa all voted for Ben as being the final Traitor, which meant the trio were left.

The players were offered the chance to undertake another debate, which they declined, separately believing each other to be Faithful and thus winning the game.

“I believe we have caught all the Traitors,” Kelley said. “I have full confidence in these ladies here.”

Kelley has previously appeared on reality TV as a background diner on RTÉ's First Dates. In the first episode of The Traitors, Kelley was chosen to be a Faithful, where she had remained since the field was whittled down.

A fiercely loyal Faithful known for her calm and demure nature, she was most close with fellow Faithful Amy, who was murdered on Sunday night's episode by Traitors Nick and Ben, igniting a fire in Kelley to catch the Traitors to not only win the show but to avenge her closest ally's murder.

The original three Traitors chosen by Siobhán McSweeney in the first episode were Eamon, a garda from Tipperary, leadership consultant Katelyn from Galway and 68-year-old retired prison officer Paudie from Limerick. All three were later eliminated, to be replaced by Ben and Nick

McSweeney - best known for her role as Sister Michael in the teen sitcom Derry Girls - is host and takes charge into chaos, suspicion and stylish skulduggery. Each day, the group embarked on missions as they worked together to add more money to the potential prize pot of €50,000, which stood at €42,900 for the final, which will be shared between the three winners.

Then, at the evening round table, the contestants would debate and then vote off who they believed were Traitors, with mixed results at best. The Traitors were also permitted to murder some hopefuls and thus eliminate them from the game.

Shot on the banks of the Boyne in Slane Castle, this spine-tingling adaptation of the global phenomenon brought suspicion, strategy and sabotage to Irish soil over the course of its 12 episodes.