The SDLP is Mark Durkan's party now. And the undeclared general election campaing which is under way is the next crucial battle, writes Dan Keenan Northern News Editor.
Other SDLP conferences have been jovial get-togethers, some have been emotional farewells, yet others have been celebratory, the odd one from 25 years ago has been despondent.
This one was different. This was angry and determined. It was strident, despite the fact that the SDLP is gearing up for an election more crucial than any previous "crucial" election.
The years since Good Friday 1998 have seen spectacular electoral highs for the party, swiftly followed by stunning reversals and slumps. Some party members still feel aggrieved that having given so much to what little constitutional health the North has, they have been rewarded with so little.
Things feel very different now in the party. Gone is any notion among delegates that the slow death of the SDLP would have been in some way worth it for the success of Belfast Agreement and the development of stable politics.
This weekend saw speaker after speaker denounce the failures of the past seven years, the mistakes of the British (and Irish) governments, and the ambiguity of peace process speak.
Chief offender, according to Mark Durkan and many others down through the party ranks, is what he calls the "Provisional movement".
There was plenty of tough talking about Sinn Féin and the IRA. "And about time too," was the reaction from most on the conference floor.
He accused them of living up to the translation of Sinn Féin and negotiating only in their own interests. He ridiculed their claims to be true republicans and accused them of twisting their electoral mandate. No nationalist voted for bank robberies, the murder of postal workers or of Garda officers, he said.
It was high time for the SDLP "to reclaim the good name of northern nationalism, to reclaim the agreement, to restore the democratic institutions and to return to the path the Irish people chose".
That good reputation had to be wrested from Sinn Féin and the IRA, who were at various turns, liars, deceivers and hoods.
He protested to a willing audience that the DUP's mandate did not override anyone else's in Northern Ireland just as Sinn Féin's did not override anyone else's in Ireland as a whole. It was fighting talk - which in turn was supported by equally strident stuff from delegates who gave every indication of having had more than their fill of "constructive ambiguity", meaningless transitions, broken promises, unhistoric breakthroughs, stilted choreography and stalled sequencing.
Mark Durkan made it abundantly clear - even to those who accuse him of verbosity - that he wants the assembly recalled and given the chance to form an executive.
If that fails then 10 civic administrators should be appointed to run the North's departments - just as civic appointees have helped make a success of the Policing Board.
He wants the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation recalled in Dublin, a demand promptly endorsed by Mr Ruairí Quinn in equally unequivocal terms.
Those who shout down such proposals are, in effect, arguing for continued suspension and Direct Rule, he said.
Conference found it all stirring stuff, delivered with equal doses of emotion and determination, and they responded accordingly.
No-one disagreed with the call to take their case to the streets where the party was born. But while the motivation to fight vital May elections was not in short supply, there remained unanswered questions about the means of battling for electoral survival, which the next election surely is. A packed and enthusiastic conference hall does not equate to a mass movement of poster-hangers, door-to-door canvassers - the sort of volunteer corps needed to mount a rearguard action to counter the well-populated and youthful Sinn Féin charge.
Mark Durkan must know too that it takes more than a weekend of finger-pointing at Sinn Féin to halt the stream of electoral setbacks. Being right just isn't enough.
The SDLP, somewhere along the way since 1998, has lost 100,000 voters.
Some have lapsed, others turned lazy and still more have drifted. The party has to get them back.