Sinn Féin's series of achievements throughout 1917 bred a confidence which bordered on complacency. Some observers imagined that the party's momentum would continue without challenge or interruption until it reached its natural conclusion in the long-overdue general election. But the pattern of events in 1918 differed from any such expectations. Although the year did end in victory for Sinn Féin and in its final destruction of the Parliamentary Party, this triumph was secured only after it had suffered a number of minor setbacks at the hands of the home rulers and after it had withstood a massive counterattack by the British authorities.

Three defeats

The first three parliamentary seats to fall vacant after the Sinn Féin October convention were all situated in Co. Armagh. Local Sinn Féiners decided to avoid involvement in North-and Mid-Armagh, constituencies which were so safely Unionist that neither had been contested by Nationalist candidates since 1886. But they could not so easily ignore the challenge posed by the vacancy in the south of the county. This was created by the death of Charles O'Neill, the last surviving MP associated with Butt's establishment of the home rule movement in 1870. The constituency was strongly nationalist, and in the last general election the Parliamentary Party had defeated an O'Brienite All-For-Ireland opponent by a margin of three to one.