Colliding with a post cost me a title winning day but I'd do it all again because of our camaraderie

CHOOSE one moment to sum up Packie Lynch's career in the League of Ireland and it has to be this.

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It was a Wednesday night in Ballybofey, a rearranged fixture, St Pat's travelling to Finn Harps just five days after losing a game which meant they had lost control of their destiny.

Four games were left in that 1997/98 League of Ireland race when the Saints hit the road to Donegal, no one giving them a chance of the title.

They rallied. They did a number on Harps, outthinking and outscrapping them, taking a 2-0 lead with the clock ticking down.

That Harps vintage from the late 1990s were a decent outfit who finished fourth that season before going on to contest the 1999 FAI Cup final.

So, even on nights when the game was gone, they kept battling.

And that’s what happened here, Jonathan Speak creating a chance for himself in the final minute when he took the ball around the St Pat's keeper Trevor Wood before guiding it towards the net.

Bear in the mind what was going through Lynch’ head at that moment?

The game, pretty much, was safe, the points secure.

Yet he risked his personal safety to keep the ball out of the net, successfully clearing it off the goalline before he collided with the post.

A badly bruised knee was the consequence, the rest of the season taken away from him in that one moment of bravery.

Yet 27 years later, as he recalls not being on the field for the final day win against Kilkenny, he has no regrets about his actions.

Lynch (right) says: “I guess it is a little bittersweet to have missed out on the game in Kilkenny which clinched the league.