Since he won his and Tyrone's last senior title back in 2005, McGuigan has had a couple of career-threatening knocks along the way but is glad to be back in the thick of it once again.

The 28-year-old has worked tirelessly to ensure full fitness and a return to action from a broken leg sustained in a club game and subsequently a broken eye.

He has seen more A&E wards than he would care to remember.

"When I had the broken leg, everything boiled down to the work I was putting in, and it was really up to me," McGuigan explained.

"But with the eye it wasn't up to me, I was depending on doctors and surgeons and I could really do nothing. I really have to thank them for it."

Fast forward to Saturday March 15, 2008, a day which McGuigan, his fellow Tyrone players, the management and public - and indeed the greater Gaelic Games family - did not think they would see.

Back then McGuigan came on to replace Ryan Mellon in the 63rd minute of Tyrone's National League encounter with Laois.

And the large home crowd at Healy Park in Omagh rapturously saluted his return to the inter-county game.

A joiner by profession, McGuigan is a resilient character and is delighted to back preparing for an All-Ireland final.

"There were times when I maybe thought that I wouldn't even be back and I'd only dream of playing with my brothers or friends on a football field, not even in a competitive match. It was only really a dream.

"But now to be competing in an All-Ireland final is just fantastic."

McGuigan believes that the thing which defines this Tyrone squad is not only their hunger and will to succeed, but also the tight bond which exists between them - both on and off the pitch.

"One of the good things is that a lot of the players have a good bond with each other and the spirit this year has been absolutely unreal.

"Even after games players like to go out together. It's not only on the football field where we are close.

"It's even off the field where everybody bonds and gels together. I think that really carries on to the football field and that has a lot to do with it."

Focusing on Sunday's clash with the defending champions, McGuigan rates this current Kerry team highly and says that they are a different prospect to the one Tyrone faced in 2005.

"I know the Kerry team has a lot of the same players that were there in '05, but at the same time two of the new players that they have are the most vital players - (Tommy) Walsh and (Kieran) Donaghy.

"Although they say it's a similar kind of personnel, I think it's a different team and a totally different style of play we are going to be playing against."

Kerry may have romped to a comfortable victory over neighbours and Munster rivals Cork in last year's final, but McGuigan believes that this year's decider will go right down to the wire.

"I think it's fair to say at this stage that Tyrone and Kerry are probably the two best teams this decade.

"It may just boil down to a bit of luck on the day and maybe the nerves of the people involved in the final, the players and the managers.

"There's not going to be any more than a point or two in it, whoever comes out of it at the end."