As they gathered for their annual protest, Orangemen joked that Drumcree was in danger of becoming boring. It was all so tame and respectable.
About 1,000 brethren and their supporters arrived at the hilltop church on a gloomy grey morning.
The huge steel barricade that normally blocks the lane leading to the Garvaghy Road was replaced with a 7-ft yellow-and-black barrier.
There was a less hostile attitude to the media. Orangeman Mr William Frazer talked of bringing the press to the order's next meeting with the Parades Commission, "so the world can see who is unreasonable".
After the church service, the Orangemen marched down the hill to applause. Portadown district secretary Mr Nigel Dawson went to the barrier to make the official protest to police.
He said he was pleased to be received by Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White, and not just an ordinary police inspector. Mr White's exchange with Mr Dawson was polite.
During the speeches later, the deputy district master, Mr David Burrows, compared Portadown nationalists to Nazis imprisoning Jews in ghettos.
Half an hour later, the Orangemen walked back up the hill, but some of their supporters began firing bottles and bricks at police behind the barrier. Then they started dismantling the flimsy construction.
Dozens of officers in riot gear rushed to prevent the loyalists going further. Hand-to-hand fighting broke out. Some Orangemen walked away. Others took off their sashes and joined in. A few fought in full regalia. There were cheers when a policeman, hit by a rock, fell to the ground.
Police responded with batons and plastic bullets. Mr David Cully from Markethill was struck by a plastic bullet which tore a huge chunk of flesh from his right arm. He lay on the ground, bleeding heavily.
He was shaking. Someone gave him a cigarette which he smoked using his left hand. His wife said he was shot from close range. "No surrender!" he shouted as he was taken to the ambulance. His wife was anxious journalists spelt his surname correctly - "Don't use an 'e' - that's the Taig way".
Friendliness to the media hadn't lasted long either. An RTÉ crew was told to leave. A TG4 camera man was assaulted.
British army technicians moved in to erect the huge steel barricade of previous years.
It's back to the drawing board on Drumcree.