She left Ireland for Paris in 1883, making a living through her journalism, primarily religious in subject as she was a devout Catholic.
It was around this time that O'Delaney became friends with Maud Gonne, comparing her to Joan of Arc and hailing her as "our island's maiden queen" in a poem published in February 1898.
In this position she circulated reports of its work to Irish papers, whilst also being Gonne's assistant editor to the French language nationalist newspaper, L'Irlande Libre.
An incident in which McBride had exposed himself to O'Delaney when drunk was one of a number of such events that had led to the ending of the marriage.
[1] O'Delaney stood as godmother to Francis Stuart when he converted to Catholisim in advance of his marriage to Iseult.