IT wasn't the scoreline and it wasn't the prize. For Jim McGuinness and Christy Toye, overcoming Dublin in last year's All-Ireland semi-final was about something much more personal: their pride.
McGuinness' had taken a battering after Donegal's All-Ireland defence in 2013 descended into farce. Told his ideas had become outdated, just a year after they were declared groundbreaking, he knew he had to think on his feet if he was to have any chance of redemption.
So he looked at the scoreboard and saw that 25 minutes had been played and that Dublin had nine points and Donegal four. Knowing he had to act, he sent for Toye.
Now there are comebacks and there are comebacks. That day, the sportswriters said Donegal emerged from the grave the moment Christy Toye stepped off the bench. It's an easy phrase to throw out there until you hear how Toye, Donegal's longest serving player, had a painful recovery from trigeminal neuralgia, an illness nicknamed the 'suicide virus'.
"It creates pain and a throbbing sensation that doesn't stop," said Toye. "It goes on all day and all night so you can't sleep."
Yet here he was, less than two years after being diagnosed with it, inspiring Donegal to the most thrilling and unexpected win of the year. Creating a score for Ryan McHugh with his first touch, he changed the game. "Dublin had us on the rack and you're just probably thinking 'well, if they get a goal, it's not looking good for us','' Toye said.
"When I came on, I just tried to push things on in that regard, running at Dublin and, luckily, it worked out for us in the end. We had this attitude that we'd never give up."
It's a philosophy which has served them well. After all, plenty had given up on Donegal before McGuinness arrived in 2011 and the doubters resurfaced after that hammering by Mayo in the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final. But they learned to cope - and learned to win.
"Jim made us believe," Toye says. Now Jim has gone. The great redeemer preaches in a different parish these days with a former disciple, Rory Gallagher, taking his place on the Donegal pulpit.
It's an easy audience to speak to, though. The players respect Gallagher for what he achieved as McGuinness' sidekick in the first three years of their former manager's reign. Plus, they feel they have a point to prove.
"We won one in 2012, but it's the 2014 one that we'll think about most," said Toye. "Ask any of the boys and they'll say that. They'll probably say that after their careers are over as well. It's the one you lose that sticks in your mind. If you lose one, it's a real killer.
"That's why so many of the lads are back this year, to hopefully put things right. If that takes us to an All-Ireland final or Ulster final or whatever, we'll be putting everything into it this year. We have boys like Paddy McGrath, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey.
"Any of those boys, you'd have no problem giving them the captain's armband. And it's the same the whole way up the pitch. That's something that probably came out of the Jim McGuinness era.
"Everyone took on that bit more responsibility. Things like players in the full-back line attacking. Things they'd never have thought of doing in other years.
"Jim pushed players to move out of the comfort zone, to push themselves more than they normally would have."
Now it is Gallagher who does the pushing and this Sunday they have to put a shove on against Tyrone. Win that and the path to an Ulster title goes through Armagh, then Derry or Down, and - in all probability - Monaghan.
"Rory's his own man," said Toye. "He worked under Jim, but he has a lot of his own ideas as well. He's very demanding in training and you can see the hunger in him, and his desire.
"He demands high standards of all the players. All the players have responded brilliantly so far."
Eamon McGee. Photo: INPHO.Eamon McGee concurs. The Donegal corner back likes what he sees from his new manager.
"Rory can't sell Jim's product, Rory has to sell his own game-plan, his own vision. You get these coaches at club level and they try and copy Jim McGuinness's plan and they can't sell it properly.
"Rory has to make his own mark. There is stuff that we're good at and we'll try and hold on to, but Rory will be putting his own stamp on Donegal. After we won the All-Ireland, I said an important part of it was the triangle of Jim, Rory, and Michael Murphy as captain.
"Rory is just very knowledgeable. He doesn't bluff you. He calls a spade a spade. He knows his stuff and you respect him."
It was respect which persuaded McGee to come back for one last shot at an All-Ireland, something he wouldn't have done had Donegal won the All-Ireland last September.
"The plan was to walk away to try to win something with the club,'' he said. "But the fact that we lost made it harder to walk away from it. A lot of the older players talked about whether we'd go back.
"It was very, very important who Donegal appointed as manager and because it was Rory who came in, a lot of retirements were staved off."
While this gives an impression of Donegal being an old team, it has to be remembered how significant a role Ryan McHugh, Darach O'Connor, and Odhran MacNiallais played in last year's campaign.
"Paddy McBrearty is another," says McGee. "People think he's been around forever, but he's still only 21. They all did wonders last year and we'll be expecting a bit more from them this year. I know Odhran well and he has the ability to push on further."
So do Donegal. Sporting obituaries with this crowd are premature.
