And what were you doing at the old Bass Brewery in Belfast picking up awards? Don't you know it's a closed shop in this province? It's Stephen O'Neill and Steven McDonnell. It's Mickey Harte and Joe Kernan.

It's Tyrone and Armagh. You're from this neck of the woods so you ought to know. You should be well aware that rises and reputations are a grind in Ulster. So what's with this Donegal team? And what's with this Ulster final? Please Brian, help us out. Even a little.

Who are you? Yours, etc.

The quick answer involves teaching. A lot of teaching.

And he's the sort of teacher that no doubt presided over a frightened silence in his classroom for 29 years at St Pius's of Magherafelt. Everyone listened to every word of his history lessons because to listen meant discipline and getting on his good side. Then it all came to an end last Friday. He had requested voluntary redundancy and got it quicker than he could have hoped for. At last some time to himself and to his family, or so he thought. Now the void has been fully filled with football.

"That started way back in 1978. That was my first involvement in terms of football. I'd done a wee bit of coaching and training and management with Ardboe.

Then I spent a wee bit more time with Ballinderry. At the same time I would have taken PE and football at the school so I had loads of experience in terms of being involved with sides over the guts of 20 years. But Ballinderry. . .

"You know we could have been out the first night in 2002. We played Craigbane on a horrible wet night up in Dungiven. There was all sorts of trouble. But we improved with every game. The first round of Ulster, St Gall's gave us serious trouble down in Casement and it was a draw and we only won the replay by a couple of points.

"The Ulster final with Mayobridge was the big clinking game. And having got out of Ulster we really played great football. It all blossomed. We went to London and played Tir Chonaill Gaels. We played great football to beat Rathnew because they were a fair side. Then the All Ireland final in Thurles against Nemo Rangers, great stuff again.

So they won an All Ireland playing great football."

It might not have been his last. When Tyrone went looking for a manager to take over their great white hopes, McIvor was mentioned. Problem was, so was Mickey Harte. The rest? Well, we don't have to tell you. "I knew whenever I was going for that job that Mickey was going to be the favourite. He had worked with them at underage level, at minor level, at under-21 level and had great success. That was obviously a great benefit to him but I was still very disappointed.

But at the same time I understood the Tyrone county board's decision. And now, in hindsight, it wasn't a bad decision. They've done pretty well since.

"But for me, I had accepted the fact that I wouldn't become involved in county management at all. Ever. So when the Donegal thing came up it was a real surprise. I had been involved last year with Dromintee in Armagh and I had more or less decided you could give me another year or two in club football and I would be keen enough then to relax and put my feet up. I was getting to the stage of retirement at school and having a wee bit of time for me and my family.

"But when the Donegal thing came along the whole experience with Dromintee really made up my mind for me. It had been the case where it had been an hour and 15 minutes to Dromintee and I realised I could deal with the travelling.

"To go to Castlefin where Donegal do most of their training, it was by and large the same. And I was aware of the Donegal players in terms of seeing them on TV and things. I knew Barry Monaghan and Damien Diver and Christy Toye and Adrian Sweeney and whoever. Just in terms of their style, I always thought they were very natural. So when I weighed it up, it was a very attractive offer."

And it was then that Donegal changed. Just like in his classroom, there was an eerie silence the first night he met with the players. Discipline.

The attitude adjustor had arrived. Michael Hegarty said recently that the first word to come to his mind was "fear".

As they sat in the Silver Tassie in Letterkenny that night, you can be sure he wasn't the only one thinking it.

"When I took the job I looked at it and felt we had to get Donegal to look at football in a professional way. In Ulster, it's exceptionally competitive. And if you look at Armagh or Tyrone, they adopted very, very professional approaches towards things.

"I felt that if I was taking over Donegal they had to do the same and if they could do that I had no doubt about their natural ability. So I was very, very keen just to get a professional approach towards things.

"And I had approached everybody that was on last year's panel because I felt I couldn't suddenly go in and start changing the panel with players I didn't know. So I felt everybody had to be given a fair shot. I have to say, I went in with a clean slate. I wasn't going to rake up things that had happened in the past. I had no control over that and it wasn't for me to judge what had happened in the past. I made that very clear, that I'm not a great believer in looking back.

There was no point in me pointing fingers, I hadn't been involved, all I could do was go in and say that you need to adopt a different approach and fair play to the players, they did."

Almost did, Brian. Ahead of the Division Two league final against Louth, Kevin Cassidy and Eamon McGee were found drinking. Same old treason. Off with their heads.

"It was an issue I felt was blown totally out of proportion and we learned a lot from it in terms of Donegal. It became a very, very big story in terms of local media, more so than in the national media.

I felt it attracted far too much publicity.

"There were no criminal offences involved, they didn't need to be hung out to dry in the way that it happened. I asked after that incident that all discipline issues would be left for us to handle internally. That's the way it is now and that's the way I want it to stay."

So was throwing both players that were involved off the panel out of proportion as well?

"Well that was never the scenario. Nobody was put off the panel for a year or anything like that and that was never said to the players. I always said the situation would be reviewed. It was and both players were given the opportunity to return to the panel, if they so wished.

By that particular stage Kevin Cassidy had decided he was going to America for the summer or whatever.

Eamon McGee said he'd be more than happy to get back in the panel and get back training again. So from our particular perspective if we had been allowed to handle it internally I think both players would have been back much sooner."

So it wasn't handled internally?

"Well, like most counties, GAA is a very big thing in Donegal and once the media got hold of it, the story got into the public domain very, very quickly. I have spoken to the media since that and I have to say there was been a big, big change in the attitude of the Donegal media and team since that."

You could easily read bad into that search for absolute power but it's not like that. It's just that he likes things done good and proper. It's why he visited Brian McGuigan in hospital. It's why he visited Enda Muldoon after his controversial sending-off against Donegal. It's why he let Paddy Campbell know his feelings after the flick that sparked such controversy. And you can be sure it's why Donegal are here today.

Dear Brian McIvor, after you left the brewery during the week, the barman began to tell a story. An umpire himself, he was driving along the Shankill one day while the troubles were still flaring. Head down, minding his own business he stopped at the traffic lights and glared at the red. On his right, two guys emerged from a confectionery shop, shrink-wrapped in Donegal jerseys. Pinching himself, he rolled down the window and told them to get back to the car as quick as they possibly could. They announced they just wanted cigarettes before he pointed them towards the bunting and murals. They shrugged. Naive, they just needed a little guidance. Sound familiar? Yours, etc.