In 1989, Antrim appeared in their first All-Ireland hurling final in 46 years. But they were powerless to stop a rampant Tipperary from claiming their 23rd All-Ireland crown. Even now, 17 years after Antrim contested their first All-Ireland hurling final since 1943, Dessie Donnelly can remember it well - the big build-up, the trip down to Dublin, the occasion itself and the homecoming. Antrim had caused a sensation by beating Offaly in the All-Ireland semi-final, but the final turned out to be something of a nightmare as the Ulster side succumbed to Tipperary on a 4-24 to 3-9 scoreline. Tipp dominated from the start and Antrim's fate was sealed long before Nicky English's late goal saw thousands of blue and gold-clad supporters invade the pitch. "The occasion probably got to us," admits Donnelly, who lined out at left corner back and was one of two Antrim players to receive All-Star awards that year. "It was a totally new experience for all of us, and it was hard to take everything in. I'd say the game passed a lot of us by. Tipperary hadn't won an All-Ireland since 1971 and they were well up for it. "If we had met any other team we might have won, but Tipp were fierce hungry that year and nothing was going to stop them." Antrim had been perennial All-Ireland semi-final losers until their 4-15 to 1-15 victory over Offaly in '89. Although the defeat of the Leinster champ-ions was regarded as a massive shock, Antrim had given the likes of Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary major scares in the preceding years and the breakthrough had been coming. "Reaching the All-Ireland final in '89 was the culmination of three or four years of hard work," Dessie recalls. "In 1986, we scored 1-24 against Cork and still lost. We ran Kilkenny to six or seven points in '87 and gave Tipp a run for their money in '88. So by '89, we had a fair idea of what was required and beating Offaly was something we had been threatening to do for some. Unfortunately, we weren't able to build on it in the final, but it was great to get there never-theless." The build-up to the All-Ireland final began as soon as the Offaly game was over. "One of the things I can most remember is our trainer Peter Finn taking us to Barnet's Park in Belfast for a training session a few days after we beat Offaly. It was an awful tough session, but we came through it alright. What it proved was that we were as fit as we could have been going into the final." If the Antrim players need reminding that they were preparing for an All-Ireland final, all that they had to do was look at the number of supporters attending their training sessions. "For those four weeks leading up to the All-Ireland final, it takes complete control of your life. Everyone was talking about the big game. Before the All-Ireland semi-final, hardly anyone watched us train, but that all changed coming up to the final. You could have a couple of hundred people watching you. "The media hype really picked up in the two weeks before the game. It seemed that every corner you took, reporters were waiting for you, looking for interviews." And according to Dessie, the interest wasn't just confined to the hurling heartland of North Antrim. "The whole county got caught up in the hype. It was the same in Belfast and the football area of South-West Antrim as it was in North Antrim. The demand for tickets was huge. Antrim hadn't been in an All-Ireland final in 46 years and everybody wanted to be there to see it. You had people returning home from aboard, some of them for the first time in 10 years," he says. Just as they had done for the All-Ireland semi-final, the Antrim team travelled down to Dublin on the Saturday by bus and stayed in the Grand Hotel in Malahide. After a light training session at around 6pm, they had their dinner and settled down for the night. "We always stayed in the Grand Hotel. We knew the surroundings and we weren't going to stay somewhere else just because we were in an All-Ireland final. After dinner on the Saturday evening, we all did different things. We tried to relax as much as possible before going to bed. "The next morning, we went to Mass and followed that with another light session. We then got ready to go to Croke Park. A garda escort ensured that we didn't get caught up in the traffic." After the final, the heartbroken Glensmen returned to their Malahide base. But their spirits were lifted on the journey home on Monday. "We got a great reception coming up through places like Drogheda and Dundalk. There was a reception held for us in Newry and after that, we continued our journey back to Belfast. The homecoming took place in Casement Park. There was a great turnout and we were all individually introduced to the crowd. "On the Tuesday evening, we went around to the different clubs in North Antrim. We did the same thing in the south-west of the county the following evening. The clubs were brilliant to us, even though we didn't bring back the Liam McCarthy Cup. "By the end of the week, things started to get back to normal and the disappointment of losing began to sink in." Antrim haven't appeared in the All-Ireland final since, but they came tantalizingly close in 1991 when Kilkenny pipped them in the semi-final by 2-18 to 1-19. "We should have won that game, it was one that got away. I would say we played better than we did against Offaly in '89, but unfortunately the result wasn't the same," Donnelly ruefully reflects. The agonising loss to Kilkenny proved the last hurrah for many of the '89 team. Dessie retired from the inter-county game in 1992, 15 years after he made his senior debut in a National League game against Westmeath in Mullingar. Despite being an All-Star corner back, the Ballycastle man played most of his hurling in the forwards. The 1989 All-Ireland final was a real family occasion for the Donnellys. Dessie's brother Brian lined out at right half forward, while his cousin Terence was full back. When Antrim won the All-Ireland 'B' championship in 1982, there were four Donnelly brothers on the team - Kevin, Eddie, Brian and Dessie. Dessie's medal collection includes six Ulster championships, three All-Ireland 'B' championships and seven county championships. He retired from club hurling at the age of 42 following Ballycastle's defeat to Dunloy in the 2001 county final. He is currently secretary of Ballycastle, who recently celebrated the opening of their new 2 million pounds playing facilities. Tweet

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