A Home Rule meeting in Dungarvan on 2 January 1877 endorsed the candidacy of James Esmonde, Kilkenny landlord and brother of the deceased MP, ahead of those of Delahunty, Denis Joseph Rearden and G. C. P. Fitzgerald.[1] When the meeting had asked candidates to stand down if not endorsed by it, Delahunty had declined to give such an undertaking.[1] The Kilkenny Farmers' Association had placed an advertisement in The Freeman's Journal and The Waterford News warning voters that Esmonde was "the true type of a bad Irish landlord".[1][2]
On 14 January, Delahunty and Esmonde were formally nominated, as was Liberal candidate Frederick Lehmann; Esmonde withdrew before polling day.[3]