Today marks 14 years since Drogheda United came agonisingly close to pulling off one of the greatest ever results for a League of Ireland side in Europe.
The Boynesiders ultimately bowed out of the Champions League qualifiers at the second round stage after a 4-3 aggregate defeat to Dynamo Kiev as they missed a number of late opportunities to go through.
Victory would have brought them a step closer to where no Irish team had gone before - 180 minutes away from the Champions League group stages and even had they lost that game they would have still qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Kiev won the first leg 2-1 at Dalymount Park and Graham Gartland, a rock in that Drogheda defence, admits it took a bit of time for the Louth side to get to grips with how their opponents played.
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He told The Irish Mirror: "It was exciting to be a part of, but we had an experienced enough squad so we were quite relaxed about it to a certain extent.
"The likes of Ollie Cahill had a record of European appearances at that time so he was quite relaxed about it.
"They had just signed a midfielder who had played for Croatia in the 2008 Euros called Ognjen Vukojević for €8million.
"He ended up with 55 caps for Croatia, but this was his debut for Kiev as well.
"In fairness to Paul Doolin he had done a lot of homework on them and we knew their strengths and stuff, but it wasn't until probably half-time of the first leg that we got to grips a little bit with how they played.
"The striker they had up front, Artem Milevskiy, who went on to have 50 caps for Ukraine, was such a clever player.
"He was the one that brought all their midfielders into the game so once we got to grips with that, we did that for about 25 minutes in the home leg in the second half, it helped.
"In the last 15 minutes they were unbelievable. In fairness to Jamie Ewings, the Scottish goalkeeper that we had, he made some unbelievable saves because it could have been tough going away 3-1 down.
"I think at 2-1 and full credit to Paul Doolin here because to be able to then implement a better game plan going away, making sure that we were set up a little bit better going away from home having had a look at them realising can we get bodies around certain players etc.
"It was that type of stuff we were able to do a little bit better in the second leg than in the first because we had a feel for them.
"They had some unbelievable players. Aliyev was brilliant. He ended up going to Lokomotiv Moscow for €7.2million a few years later. He was the one, a small little player that played off the front. His linking with the boy up front Milevskiy was unreal. Them two just played together. It was scary."
Armed with a better understanding of how the Ukranians played, belief, and an almighty game plan, the Drogs headed for Ukraine hopeful of pulling off a shock result.
But their hopes of doing that took a blow in the 13th minute when Olexsandr Aliev buried the ball in the back of the net and the visitors had to soak up plenty of pressure in the opening half.
Stuart Byrne, who was Drogheda captain at the time, said: "They really came at us in the first half. They fairly bashed us and we had to soak up a bit of a tsunami of wave after wave of attack.
"And they got their goal. It was a hell of a strike in fairness. You talk about goals you don't mind conceding. The first one we conceded you don't mind because it's a hell of a strike and it was just a good move. They done us really."
But a penalty slotted home by Shane Robinson minutes before the half-time whistle sent Drogheda into the break full of confidence and just one goal away from taking the game to extra-time.
Byrne added: "The penalty just sort of came out of nowhere. We weren't particularly on top at the time. We had definitely settled down and the game had sort of petered out a little bit. It was a bit cat and mousey, not really much happening and then a penalty came out of nowhere when Richie Baker got fouled.
"It was a definite penalty. It was just such a stupid tackle that the defender just sort of came on his blindside. There was no reason to do it. It was a couple of minutes before half-time and then you're going 'have these just shot themselves in the foot'?
"Or you're saying is this their weakness? Have they got a little bit of a soft side? Maybe they're not as ruthless as they should be. Shane Robinson scores the penalty and then of course the half time team talk is a completely different conversation because it's 3-2 on aggregate, we've got an away goal and it's completely different."
But Kiev went 4-2 ahead in the tie through a penalty 17 minutes from time as Artem Milevskyi blasted the ball past Jamie Ewings in the Drogheda goal from the spot.
The tie looked to be over before Gartland got on the end of a Robinson free three minutes from full time.
The former centre half, who also scored away from home in the previous qualifying round against Levadia Tallinn, recalls: "The ball was coming in and I'm thinking I can get to this. I sort of go with my foot and when you see it from a different angle it looks dangerous but the goalkeeper is probably two yards behind me expecting to catch it into his stomach whereas if he actually comes and catches it at head height it probably would have been a free out for a high foot.
"The referee was right in line with it and the goal just goes in. I catch it with my studs and it goes in."
Byrne was looking on from further up the pitch and actually thought the referee had given a free out.
He said: "The ball comes into the box, there must have been about three or four Kiev players as well as the goalkeeper and none of them done anything.
"The goalkeeper looked like he was in no man's land going for a walkabout and Garto just reacts to it and says 'I'm having a go at this'.
"When I saw it I thought 'it's a free out is it?'. The keeper does nothing. It was like he was looking for his contact lenses in the ground which is the bizarrest thing.
"If the keeper had of committed to it, it would have been a free out. No doubt about it."
Moments later, Adam Hughes, who had scored the previous week in Dalymount, missed a glorious opportunity to put Drogheda ahead on away goals when the balls dropped to him right in front of goal, but his effort went over.
The Australian midfielder admits it's a miss that haunted him for sometime afterwards: "The belief was there. Everything was there. Unfortunately it just wasn't to be in that match.
"We were close and on another day the luck is there with you, a couple of goals go in.
"Unfortunately we weren't able to capitalise on a couple of those chances. I remember I had a chance late on that usually I would bury and that's one I look back on and really wish it went in."
On that chance, Gartland added: "Adam Hughes was in midfield and the chance falls to him. Big Ibrahima [Thiam] is on and he's causing a bit of hassle, we're getting it into wide areas and then getting it into the box.
"The keeper is a bit caught out by the goal we scored from the cross that he wasn't great on and then Ibrahima causing bother leads to the chance for Adam Hughes.
"In fairness he had done really well in the first leg scoring the goal and you're just hoping he gets his knee over the ball, even if he scuffs it into the ground. It's a great chance for him to score and it's a little bit surreal."
Byrne recalled: "I was just looking straight up the pitch at it and I saw it dropping. I knew he was only six yards out or whatever and I couldn't see the goalkeeper. I could see the goal and I just said 'this is going in'.
"And even when he hit it, I still thought it was going it. Even though it was going up high, I was thinking it would hit the roof of the net.
"Then it just went over and I just dropped to my knees."
Gartland picks out Robinson, Cahill and Paul Keegan's performances from that night in Kiev, recalling how they never stopped running.
He said: "Robbo played as an inside right and Ollie Cahill played as an inside left. The legs from Ollie Cahill and Shane Robinson as well as Paul Keegan in midfield, they were able to run with them.
"Ollie could run and he was quick. Ollie could run all day. He could go box to box with the best of them and Shane was the same. Shane would go box to box but Shane was quick, he was aggressive.
"We were able to just get bodies around them in midfield and stop them having as much control of the game as maybe they had in the first leg and once we did that Shane was able to get forward."
Robinson had a great go from a tight angle on the right hand side of the box in the dying seconds and his effort hit off the inside of the post before rolling across the line to a Kiev defender who cleared.
On the chance, Gartland said: "This is what I was saying about the running power of Shane and Ollie, Robbo gets down the inside right channel, fires one across the goal and it hits the inside of the post. It's Ollie that's in the box like. They're doing that running in the 90th minute. I can't give enough credit to the midfielders on the night. They were probably the three outstanding performers.
"Both defenders get a lot of credit in games against top teams because they're the ones making blocks and Brian Shelley was unbelievable on the night as well, but the midfielders that night were exceptional."
Byrne says he never experienced ten minutes of football in Europe like the last few of that game.
He said: "Not only should Adam have scored... and I'll never forget that now.
"But Robbo's chance after that, how does that not go in? It hits the front post and just trickles across the line but behind the keeper.
"I have never experienced ten minutes like it in a European game. I have never seen a European team wilt like that. They had gone.
"I thought we were going to do it. I thought Adam had scored. That's the truth. I remember seeing it from behind. I was right behind it. I was just looking straight up the pitch at it and I saw it dropping. I knew he was only six yards out or whatever and I couldn't see the goalkeeper. I could see the goal and I just said 'this is going in'.
"And even when he hit it, I still thought it was going it. Even though it was going up high, I was thinking it would hit the roof of the net.
"Then it just went over and I just dropped to my knees. I remember seeing the bench right beside me and they just couldn't believe it."
Emotions ran high at the final whistle, but there was no finger pointing.
Byrne explained: "There was no negativity, we just couldn't believe it. That probably was the one that got away in fairness. That could have been one of the biggest European results. It probably would have been one of the biggest results if we had of beaten them.
"I try not to think of those days because of that whole thing. I had it at Shels with Deportivo.
"In this day and age, we'd have fallen back into the Europa League qualifiers but back then you didn't."
Hughes added: "The dressing room was completely devastated after the game just because we knew we were so close but you could look every player in the eye in that changing room and know that everyone gave 110%.
"Everyone was there to take care of everyone. There was no finger pointing in any direction."
Drogheda had put in such a performance that a number of Kiev fans stayed back to clap them off the pitch.
Gartland recalls: "We walked over to our bench, went down to the Drogheda fans to clap them and as we turned back to walk towards the tunnel, the whole stand that was all their fans behind the goal just started clapping. It was a little bit surreal when you look back on it that we got that.
"With all the mix of emotions and everything going on, you end up clapping back and putting your hands up and saying thanks.
"It's bittersweet looking back on it. I think the older you get, the more it eases. At the time when people used to ask me about it, I was still in competitive mode and thinking yeah it was a moral victory but we lost.
"But looking back now and there's been other big teams that clubs have played and they've come close, but it probably would have been up there with the greatest ever results in Irish football.
"We would have dropped into the group stages of the UEFA Cup if we had beaten Kiev and lost to Spartak Moscow so beating them would have guaranteed us group stage football and that's why it was bittersweet."
Kiev made it all the way to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup that season, losing to eventual winners Shakhtar Donetsk after knocking out Valencia, PSG and Metalist Kharkiv.
But just a matter of weeks after the game in Kiev, Drogheda went into examinership and very nearly went under completely.
"It didn't end well," says Byrne. "I don't know if that was coming for a while to be quite honest and maybe there was a hope that the European thing could save it.
"It did end very, very quickly and it did leave a bit of a sour taste on things."
And although Gartland struggled to talk about the Kiev result for sometime afterwards, he can now look back on the good days at Drogheda and smile.
He concluded: "I know I probably had a difficult relationship with Paul [Doolin] at times, but I had a good chat to him last year and we put a lot of stuff behind us.
"There were some great nights. And full credit to Paul Doolin for putting the squad together, Vincent Hoey, who I'd have an awful lot of time for, Brendan Loughran, the kitman who passed away - I spoke at his funeral which was sad because in fairness to Lockie people don't realise what he done.
"When things were stressful, Lockie was your comfort and he gave a lot of players comfort. I can't tell you the amount of times he just tipped me on the shoulder when I was hot and he'd just say 'Graham relax' and that would just take the sting out of me. I couldn't tell you the affection I have towards that man.
"It was the perfect storm at the time. Even the atmosphere in United Park when it was packed was brilliant and I loved playing on the pitch. It was brilliant but the thing is it could have been so much more but they were great times."
Pain of Kiev could have helped Drogs kick on - Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes believes the pain of that heartbreaking result in Kiev could have helped Drogheda kick on in Europe the following summer had financial problems not split the squad up.
The midfielder, who scored the Drogheda goal in the first leg at Dalymount Park before missing that late chance in Kiev, moved back to his native Australia with Adelaide United months later.
He said: "It was just unfortunate that we weren't able to continue that journey.
"I think that team would have been able to compete in the A-League in Australia.
"I think if you take it to the UK, it was a squad that would have possibly been able to compete at the top of League 1, gain promotion and play in the Championship - that type of level.
"The depth that we had and the calibre of players that were all over the park. You could rotate players in and out at the drop of a hat and you weren't losing quality across the park. There were goals everywhere.
"It was just a great group to be around and it was hard to take when that financial crisis came because I really thought we were just in the midst of building something big as a club.
"I think if that group stuck together another two years and got another Champions League run, I think the hurt of the previous year would have really given that experience to everyone to kick on and go on and maybe take that next step to go through, but you never know."
Despite the strength in depth within the squad, the club had lost some key players for various reasons prior to the European fixtures that year.
And Graham Gartland believes those losses made things tough for the 2008 campaign.
He commented: "To be honest with you and no disrespect to the players, but what killed us that year as well was Simon Webb decided not to come back so the back four of Brian Shelley, Jay Gavin, myself, Simon Webb, that had won the league before was gone. That was the base of what we tried to do. Steven Gray had left as well.
"In fairness to Paul, he had kept the base and tried to move around other people. Simon Webb doesn't come back, Sean Prunty is found to have a heart issue and then Jay Gavin leaves the club that summer and doesn't play in the Champions League.
"Dan Connor had a hip injury too and Jamie Ewings did brilliantly in goal.
"He was really good with his feet which helped us but we went from having a back five of four defenders and the goalkeeper that was solid to I think only me and Brian Shelley were left from the side that won the league the previous year.
"I think if we had of had a mixture of the back four from before with the legs we had in midfield in 2008, it could have been different."
Gartland on League of Ireland player exodus
Graham Gartland can understand the frustration at the recent exodus of some of the League of Ireland's top talents to Scotland and League 1 on cheap deals.
But he can't understand why there was not the same noise as players left the country when the likes of Drogheda, Shelbourne and Bohs hit financial troubles.
He said: "We were allowed to go to the wall and nobody came to help. Nobody came to help the players, nobody came to help the club and I'm not saying the club needed help but it needed to be financially more prudent.
"It was just real 'ah another club gone... good luck' and all the players ended up leaving. Adam Hughes and Johnny Tambouras ended up drifting over to different parts of the world, Joe Kendrick went to Azerbaijan, I went to Scotland, Brian Shelley ended up going to Australia and New Zealand when Bohs went to the wall.
"There was a max exodus of talent out of the country around that time as well but nothing was said because it was like 'clubs are going bust'.
"Now they're worrying about young players leaving and I'm going 'where were you then to help?'
"Now you're saying we need to give them longer term contracts, secure things and you do, but the FAI actually need to invest in clubs and when these clubs' players start doing well and the facilities come well, they're going to benefit from it because they're the future internationals of the country.
"We just need the facilities to produce, and not produce top players sporadically, but to produce them on a constant level."
Gartland also stressed that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, something he learned after taking a paycut to join Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone from Drogheda.
He added: "If I had a chance of going back to Scotland looking back would I have taken it at the time? I took a paycut to go, the facilities weren't that great. Looking back, if Drogheda had stayed going I probably wouldn't have left.
"We had really good facilities with Drogheda at Mosney. I loved it. The training pitches were great. The gym we had was fantastic. I actually missed that when I went to Scotland because I wasn't able to prepare the way I used to prepare at Drogheda where I'd be in the gym doing my work and all that stuff.
"The facilities in Scotland weren't great so I actually missed that side of it and I know a lot of other people who joined other clubs did too."
'You just feel useless watching war in Ukraine'
Although the result didn't go their way, the Drogheda squad that travelled to Kiev have nothing but fond memories of the city and its people.
The ongoing war in Ukraine hit home for them as a number of players they had come up against have been impacted by the Russian invasion.
Artem Milevskyi, who scored Kiev's second goal in the 2-2 second leg draw, gave Stuart Byrne his jersey after the game.
On his reaction to war breaking out, Byrne said: "I got very upset by it because as soon as I got the jersey out. When you can touch something or see something that's very real.
"That's the jersey I got from Milevskyi. Then I'd seen a video of him in the basement of an office block doing a video because they were under attack or whatever the case may be.
"It becomes very real very quickly.
"I remember being there. It was a beautiful city with beautiful people. I've nothing but nice memories of the place.
"Then to see what was going on, it's just senseless stuff really in this day and age. It's very hard to get your head around. It really is. You feel useless."
Adam Hughes spent a number of years playing in Australia and China after leaving Drogheda and has not been able to contact one of his former Ukrainian teammates since the war broke out.
He explained: "When I played in China one of my teammates was from Ukraine.
"We were together for a few seasons and his hometown was one of the nearest towns to where the Russian invasion was starting to come in from.
"I just thought in the back of my mind, how is he? What's his situation?
"He's probably had to flee his home and his family would have had to get up and leave.
"I don't really know [how he is]. I haven't been able to contact him for quite some time. It's hurting and it's sad to see."
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