It was a weekend of entrances and exits but in the end, the Progressive Democrats were left to their own devices as to what the script should be for the next big production, the general election.
Des O'Malley, founding father, much-loved doyen of decency, said his piece and withdrew into the background. The next O'Malley to appear on a ballot box in Limerick East will be his cousin, Tim.
Pat Cox, still too prickly a thorn in the side of many PD foot soldiers, came waving his Euro flag, acknowledged that it had been a rough year for the party, what with one thing and another, and left again, a liberal to the core but a European one. He wouldn't be riding to the rescue at the next election - that much was clear.
Michael McDowell played a role, even if he wasn't present. Hard to live with, hard to live without; the question everyone seemed to be asking was - what do we do with him? Should he decide to put the matter to the test, the doors are still open, party leader Mary Harney said.
In the end, it was a batten-down-the-hatches annual conference. Ms Harney dismissed Labour's "tax-and-spend" economic strategy while Liz O'Donnell, considered one of the few PD safe bets at the next election, extolled the virtues of the coalition partnership with Fianna Fail. History may decide, she declared, that the PD/Fianna Fail Government was not just a good one, but a great one. The subtle message seemed to be, when in doubt - and the PDs have their doubts just now - stick with the winners.
One of the more refreshing if less well noticed contributions came from Cllr Hugh Lynn of Roscommon who didn't share Ms O'Donnell's euphoric view of the relationship with Fianna Fail. He was of the opinion that Fianna Fail can't be trusted and given even half a nod, would be up to their old tricks. Decentralisation was a case in point, he said. Charlie McCreevy, anxious to get it right, had put the question of decentralisation to his Cabinet colleagues. He wanted to take soundings. Back came the Ministers' suggestions, and in each case they had found good reasons why all or bits of their Departments should be removed from Dublin to their own constituencies.
Hand it over to a commission, he suggested, and let the Ministers get on with the job they are paid to do instead of always rattling their own cages.
The attendance, sometimes less full than party organisers would have liked with television cameras stalking proceedings, grew to a full house for Ms Harney's address on Saturday evening. There was, of course, the inevitable standing ovation. But the clapping couldn't disguise the anxiety. Where will the PDs be after the next election? That was the only issue that mattered and the numbers game was being played by one and all in Cork over the weekend.
Despite stout words from the likes of party chairman John Minihan, who will stand for the PDs in Cork South Central, the anxiety wouldn't go away. Neither could the comfort of like-minded friends gathering together dispel it.
Still, in so far as it could have been, this was an upbeat conference, the one certainty for delegates being that they hold the moral high ground. Whether or not that counts at the ballot box any more, Ms Liz O'Donnell seems to think, is another thing.
As they dribbled away from the conference centre yesterday everyone knew that a defining moment for the Progressive Democrats was only an election away.