The story of Sinn Féin over recent years has been one of ascendancy on both sides of the border. At times its rise seemed unstoppable, hence the talk ahead of Thursday of potential gains. But in the cold light of yesterday morning it was clear republicans had suffered arguably their greatest electoral setback since Joe Hendron took West Belfast for the SDLP in 1992.
The against-the-odds loss of Fermanagh-South Tyrone will undoubtedly hurt, especially as it involves one of the party's most popular personalities but the broader picture across the north will also be bitterly disappointing. In North Belfast, where Sinn Féin's controversial election leaflet gave the distinct impression the seat was winnable, the party saw its share of the vote drop in contrast to a surge of support for the DUP incumbent Nigel Dodds. But it wasn't just in North Belfast that the party failed to live up to expectations. In the south of the city, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir's grandiose talk of taking the seat from the SDLP proved to be a pipe dream as he came in fourth behind Alliance, with just over half of the winner Alasdair McDonnell's total. The story was the same in South Down where local hope Chris Hazzard failed to improve on his predecessor's vote, posing no significant threat to Margaret Ritchie. In Derry meanwhile , where last year's local government election results suggested the 'SDLP citadel' could fall to republicans this time around, Sinn Féin's share of the vote actually slipped.
The party's hopes of being the largest at next year's assembly poll and claiming the first minister's post have been dented yet not fatally. Nevertheless party officials will spend the coming weeks scrutinising the Sinn Féin campaign in an effort to establish where exactly it fell down – something not immediately apparent yesterday.
Its performance was far from a disaster but when examined in the context of wider nationalism ever overturning unionist supremacy, it shows there is still a long way to travel.
:: In a sentence: Don't believe your own hype.
