Two points in front as the seconds ticked away towards the final whistle and a county title, Mickey Donnelly dared to believe that Ardboe’s time had come.
But the Tyrone SFC final of 2009 was to take a devastatingly cruel twist, with a penalty awarded to Dromore four minutes into stoppage time.
Colm McCullagh stepped up to slot home the kick for a 1-14 to 1-13 win, and the sky fell in upon the Rossas boss, his players and an army of supporters numbed by disbelief.
Every day since that harrowing experience at Healy Park, Donnelly has had to live with reminders of what felt like a dagger through the heart.
But the lure of the club and of the rugged beauty of the lough shore have drawn the Aghaloo man back to Coney Park, and he’s set to begin a second spell in charge of Ardboe.
“Defeat can be like a death. There have been very few weeks in my life since that I am not drawn back to it, that somebody asks me about it, somebody mentions it,” he said.
“Days like that eat at you and have a bigger impact than the great days that you have had, looking back, which is crazy.
“But maybe that’s the Irish in us, that we emphasise the disappointments more than the successes we have had on the field.
“But disappointment drives you on. That’s life, and maybe that’s the impact that football has on us all.”
Donnelly’s managerial career at club and inter-county level has taken him full circle, and for the past couple of years he has been in charge of his own club’s senior team.
Having led Mayobridge to two Down SFC titles, taken Ballybay to a Monaghan final and the Tyrone Minors to an All-Ireland final, he spent three years as Derry U20 boss, landing a first provincial title for the county in more than 20 years.
“I have been back at my own club this past couple of years and loved it, but I felt I just needed a new challenge.
“I’m really excited about it. They’re fanatical about football down that part of the world. Around that part of the east Tyrone area, it’s probably football and family joint first, and everything else a distant second.”
Now he finds Ardboe in a distinctly different place from where he left them back in 2011, when he departed following a three-year spell.
“When I came to Ardboe in ’09, I was inheriting a team that was full of massive potential, with three or four lads who had won senior All-Ireland medals just a matter of months before that.
“At the moment, the league table doesn’t lie. Ardboe’s league performances over the last couple of years have left them at a level they don’t want to be at.
“So we have a big challenge ahead of us in turning that around, but it’s a challenge that I’m very much looking forward to.”
The Rossas established a reputation as championship giants back in the seventies, but lean times have followed, and they haven’t won the O’Neill Cup since 1998.
Donnelly’s impact back in 2009 helped reawaken a sleeping colossus, and he’s hoping to work his magic once again.
“We’ll be setting the lads that challenge, to try and revive that championship tradition that Ardboe have.
“Since 1987, they have been in two county finals.
“It’s a long time since Stephen Coney lifted the O’Neill Cup in ’87, and since Fay Devlin lifted it in 1988.
“Two championship final appearances in 34 years, that’s a massive gap for a club with the tradition that Ardboe has.
“We have a lot of work to do to even get into that conversation.
“Certainly, from my viewpoint, it’s baby steps in year one, to try and move things on and try to turn things around a wee bit, to get lads doing the right thing, to change that culture and create that winning culture.”
The 2021 season might well have taken Donnelly on a dramatically different direction, had he not decided to withdraw from the race to become Tyrone senior manager.
He was one of just two nominations, along with the Feargal Logan-Brian Dooher ticket, but stepped away from the process ahead of a final decision on who was to succeed Mickey Harte last November.
“I was nominated, and when someone thinks that you’re good enough to be considered, it was something that I wanted to give a lot of thought to,” he said.
“I’m a very proud Tyrone man, and nothing would make me more honoured than to manage my county.
“But at the moment, the time is not right for me.
“I’m delighted that Feargal and Brian are doing it, because we have great people involved there, all people that I know very well, and I know they’ll be fantastic and I know they’ll do a great job.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to get into sitting at an interview table, going up against people that I knew in my heart of hearts would have done the job really well.
“There’s definitely a sense within the county now that everybody is behind Feargal and Brian, and it’s important that we all row in behind them.
“And it would have been a poor reflection on me if I had thought, well I’m going to go against them.
“We all want unity within the county, more than anything, and we all want our county team doing well and being successful and being competitive.
“We have had that under Mickey, we have had that for two decades nearly, but now the baton has been passed on, and it’s important that we give the management all the support and backing that we possibly can.”
In order to pursue the ultimate success, Donnelly believes the Red Hands need to go back to basics and build from a firm provincial base.
“What is progress? Two years ago, Tyrone were in an All-Ireland final, so if Tyrone get beaten in an All-Ireland semi-final, is that progress? I don’t know.
“But to win an Ulster Championship again would be brilliant.
“Getting to the All-Ireland final in 2018 came off the back of winning two Ulster Championships in 2016 and 2017, and that buzz was back in Tyrone.
“People had got very flippant about the Ulster Championship. I don’t think we’re flippant now, I think people would love to see Tyrone winning the Anglo-Celt again.
“That would be progress for me, to do what Cavan did. Cavan came through a very tough Ulster Championship, and beating Monaghan and Donegal to win it is no joke.
“I think it’s going to be tough, but I think there’s a wave of optimism, and that wave of unity that’s there at the minute will help everybody.”
