A goal down and a man down - Dundalk looked dead and buried here.
Next thing the 2,371 in attendance discovered the corpse still had a pulse.
Having lost Rayhaan Tulloch to a red card for a second bookable offence on 55 minutes, there seemed no way for the Lilywhites.
Trailing to Conor Carty’s first half goal, troubled by Jake Mulraney’s trickery on the wing, and Chris Forrester’s increasing influence in the middle, it looked over.
Try telling Daniel Kelly that.
With 85 minutes on the clock, he set off on what looked like a hopeless chase.
But nothing ever is when you have pace like Kelly.
On he went - noting the hesitancy in the Pat’s defence - identifying how Dean Lyness was afraid to leave his penalty area and Noah Lewis was caught in two minds.
Suddenly Kelly was in between the keeper and Lewis.
And suddenly he was poking the ball into the empty net.
Cue bedlam among the Dundalk supporters.
And cue a magical closing period to this game when Kelly had a chance to add a second and when Pat’s threw everything at their hosts to try and win it.
Tactics went out the window as both sides went for the jugular - more action packed into the final five minutes of regulation time, and five subsequent minutes of injury time than we saw in the 85 minutes prior to that.
In the end, Dundalk got a share of the spoils, Pat’s the first draw of the Jon Daly era.
And it’ll hurt. They should have closed this one out.
Yet while the game ended dramatically, the truth is that the first half was poor, the game completely ruined by a pitch that simply has to be ripped up and replaced by a grass surface as soon as possible.
If it isn't then we will be writing the same thing time after time, how games lack flow because of the bobbly surface and unnatural bounce.
Unfair on players and fans alike, moments of quality were few and far between.
For Dundalk, Pat Hoban, their striker and record goalscorer, provided glimpses of brilliance, linking the play cleverly, timing his runs and passes to good effect.
But Pat’s stayed organised. Sam Curtis, who has future international stamped across his teenage CV, played well.
From this source there was a genuine attempt to build the play from deep, and sure enough, it was a break out from defence by Curtis that led to the opening goal, Hoban accidentally tripping the Pat’s player, ref Damian McGrath awarding a free.
From it, the play landed on the right wing, Jake Mulraney providing a subtle pass infield, Adam Murphy collecting it before keeping the play flowing with a first-time delivery to Conor Carty.
Unmarked and in front of goal, the striker couldn’t miss.
And so Pat’s had the lead, one they kept until half-time, thanks largely to a superb save from Lyness, who reacted sharply to push away Connor Malley’s header.
Onto the second half.
Forrester was starting to find a rhythm and flow to his passing, Mulraney was causing serious problems too, and when Carty had a one-on-one with Nathan Shepperd, it looked like they’d go two up.
But The Good Shepperd saved the day.
Next thing Tulloch’s 55th minute yellow card threatened to ruin Dundalk’s night.
But Kelly ensured it didn’t.
