Stephen Baxter admits he will need a sunshine break to help soak in Crusaders' breathless Irish Cup victory at Windsor Park.
A stunning volley from Johnny McMurray in the third minute of injury time at the end of extra time sealed a 2-1 win over Ballymena United.
The Shore Road men had forced extra time through Josh Robinson's 93rd-minute equaliser, after Ballymena had led through Robbie Weir's own goal in the ninth minute.
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It was the cruellest of defeats for David Jeffrey's Sky Blues, but a mesmerising last-gasp win for Baxter and his players..
"To score at the death in the 90 minutes and then to score at the death in extra-time, it doesn't get any better than that," Baxter told the BBC.
"Today we weren't at it. For an hour we weren't at it. We didn't pass the ball well, we didn't get into good positions, Ballymena had a good shape and they hit us on the counter-attack.
"And try as we might we just didn't look like we could break them down. We pushed everything at them in the last five minutes of that match and we got the goal and that rocked them, and in extra-time we hammered them and hammered them right through to the end.
"I think they were hanging on for penalties but we were pushing for the winner. It was a good way to win, and a difficult way to lose but we came out on the right side of it and we're really pleased."
Ballymena took the lead in the ninth minute when Andy McGrory's corner was deflected into his own net by Crues defender Weir.
It looked to be the defining moment of the final as the game entered the third minute of injury time, but Robinson popped up at the back post to score and send the game to extra time.
And as the game appeared to be heading for penalties, McMurray fired home a superb volley with virtually the last kick of the game.
"I think we had Jonny Tuffey in the box on 90 minutes, the ball skimmed his head and Josh scored. It was great," Baxter said.
"From our point of view today's performance might not be one we'll want to watch back too hard, but it's all about the result, the victory and the fans.
"It was a big performance, and we got into Europe - now I can go home and have a break!"
The win is Baxter's third Irish Cup success, following previous victories in 2009 and '19.
"You never get tired of doing this," he beamed.
"This is a fantastic day out for your your supporters, the players.
"All the things we've done over the past number of years, it doesn't get better than this. Irish Cup day is a special day, and when you win them they're great, when you lose they're not so good and I was on the wrong end of some hammerings from David Jeffrey when he was at Linfield.
"He'll probably forgive me for taking this one.
"We had a special moment at the end. He's a really top guy. It'll hurt for a day or two, as it always does, but that's football, that's the game. It's our day."
Baxter joked that he will need a holiday after this season's late heroics before doing it all again next season.
He said: "We'll chill out from all of this, take our time and have a few weeks off.
"I'll get some sun on my back before I come back and pick the right strategy for the football club moving forward and get ready to do it all again next season."
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