He released Hobson in the evening of Easter Monday, and O'Doherty reported to Tom Clarke at the General Post Office.
O'Doherty avoided arrest after the Rising, and was supported by Clarke's widow, Kathleen, in May 1916 with his re-establishment of a temporary supreme council of the IRB.
John Devoy acknowledged O'Doherty's authority as caretaker leader of the IRB supreme council in September 1916.
[1][4] O'Doherty was familiar with Ulster unionists from Derry, and acknowledged that they would not support an Irish republic, believing that further military action was likely to lead to Ireland being partitioned.
He proposed that a republican candidate stand in the North Roscommon by-election in early 1917, but the IRB supreme council refused to fund it.
This ultimately led to nationalist organisations uniting under the Sinn Féin banner and convinced many militants of the potential power in constitutional methods.
Due to his prominence in the Roscommon election, O'Doherty was arrested on 22 February 1917 and deported to Leominster where he reported to the local police daily.
He escaped back to Ireland to participate in a successful Sinn Féin by-election campaign which elected the imprisoned Joseph McGuinness in South Longford.
During the same period, O'Doherty wrote for two underground journals with anti-conscription material, and stored and hid arms and ammunition in his house which could be used to resist conscription.
O'Doherty was arrested again in June 1919, and was charged by court martial for possessing a rifle and ammunition stored at his house.
He worked for a firm of church furnishers, and wrote articles for an Irish-American newspaper, the Irish Press, which was edited by his old friend Patrick McCartan.