She donned a new suit and visibly braced herself as they left for Dublin Castle at around 5.30 p.m., unsure of what lay ahead or how to deal with it. Dick Spring laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be with you," he said.
Together they made a tight little group - herself and the party leader, her husband, Sean Dunne, joint campaign managers Fergus Finlay and Joe Noonan, tour manager Pat Magner, party development officer, Anne Byrne, Labour press officer, Tom Butler, Democratic Left press officer, Mags Murphy - as they steeled themselves for the cameras, intent on maintaining grace, dignity, even a smile in the face of public humiliation, the scale of which can be known to only a few.
Seven weeks of battling together against the world had created a bond that was evident back in their Camden Street campaign headquarters earlier in the afternoon as Adi Roche arrived to say her farewells.
Some 60 campaigners were there to give her a passionate round of applause, and shower her with fierce embraces and words of hope and comfort. All three alliance parties were represented, philosophical veterans of other body-strewn battlefields.
But for Roche, the non-veteran, a bad dream turned into a nightmare as the day dragged on, when some of her old enemies turned up on RTE's Liveline to reprise the case against her stewardship of the Chernobyl Children's Project. That blow was almost as devastating for her as the voters' verdict on her candidacy.
There were speeches and gifts and tears. Dick Spring reiterated his belief in her as a candidate: "She was asked to stand because we believed in her as a person and the things she stood for - and the belief in these things is still as firm as ever at this stage of the campaign.
"We are very, very proud of her and how she conducted herself during the campaign. We have enormous respect for Adi Roche, the person, the humanitarian and a person who has done an awful lot of good deeds in the past and will again in the future".
On behalf of the team, he presented her with a framed series of stunning portraits of a smiling Adi Roche, gold earrings dangling, taken by a New York photo-journalist, Kit de Fever, on the day of her campaign launch.
Some of the portraits will feature in a forthcoming book by Don Mullin - also present - called When Hope and History Rhyme, about 35 peacemakers and humanitarians from around the world.
She responded by thanking the staff and especially Dick Spring for their support. While her husband, Sean, looked on clearly distressed, she reminded them that they had fought an honourable campaign with dignity and integrity, though others might have blood on their hands. She spoke of the close friendships and relationships built up which would go far beyond the campaign. Her composure faltered only when she expressed the hope that she hadn't "let anyone down".
Then she climbed into a car and drove to Dublin Castle, into the glare of the cameras and the waiting interviewers, fielding the obvious questions. Was she disappointed? "Obviously I'm disappointed but I accept the democratic process". Questions about Dick Spring's leadership, about the implications for the by-elections.
Leaving a grim-looking John Bruton behind to a fresh onslaught, she was the first of the candidates to climb the steps into the entrance hall of the Castle, to be applauded by supporters of all shades. She bantered with Derek Nally, who suggested that all three of the eliminated ones should hit the road together next time round, and was embraced by Nell McCafferty who it appears had more to cry about than most. If we heard correctly, Nell had £900 on Roche to win.
Then, having done her duty, Adi Roche was the first to leave.