Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley has conceded defeat to his Democratic rival Dan Malloy in the Connecticut governor’s race.

Foley made the announcement during a press conference today.

He lost in the end by less than 6,000 votes out of 1 million cast and had disputed the results up until the last minute.

However, recounts are only triggered in the state when the margin is less than 2,000 votes.

Foley faced a prohibitively expensive legal challenge to contest the result in court.

He may well decide to run again in the future, either for Joe Lieberman’s seat in 2012 or for governor again in 2014