McDonald, below, won four of his five group games and then overcame his initial opponent in the knockout phase, only to meet a fellow Ulsterman on top of his form.
McDonald, formerly from Cookstown but now married and living at Cloneen off the Ballygawley Road, scored whitewash wins over Latvia's Andris Kritners, Germany's Norman Caunter and Polish cueman Marek Kulago as well as a 3-2 victory over Frenchman Reynald Bottero, losing only in the deciding frame to group winner Philip Williams of Wales. Williams was among the pre-tournament title favourites, since he was deputising at this level for former world championship semi-finalist Darren Morgan - a World Masters champion - who instead stepped up to take a place in the main event in Poland.
That runner-up feat in the group earned McDonald a seed ranking of number sixteen for the knockout stages and he met Dubliner Phil Martin, winning 3-2.
His next opponent, alas, was the number one seed, who just happened to be Kieran McMahon, the former professional from outside Newry.
Now, you'd imagine that the local man would have gone into the match with every chance of winning, recalling that McDonald had beaten him 3-1 when they collided in the qualifying tournament back in the middle of May at the Fountain Club in Antrim.
But the situation was slightly, and crucially, different now. Amazingly, McMahon had won all of his five games in the group without losing a solitary frame - and he was also a 4-0 winner over Robert Matsiak of Poland in his first match in the knockout event.
Thus McMahon emerged a convincing 4-0 victory - and it was sadly the end of McDonald's first European adventure. The Newry man went on to reach the final where he met England's Alan Trigg, another former professional. And it seemed McMahon might win as he deservedly established a 4-3 lead. Alas, the Leeds player won three in a row to win 6-4.