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In otl many people thought O'Neil had been deeply wounded in the election of the Spring of 1969. A key factor in this was that Paisley came near to defeating him in Banside. That constituency included Balymena and was and is a hard LOYALISTA stronghold.
Now had O'Neil been nominated for say a Belfast constituency in the 1940s his own result would have looked VERY good.
Note in OTL several pro O'Neil candidates defeated Official Unionist opponents and nobody on the anti side defeated an officially nominated pro O'Neil candidate