McFadden is the embodiment of the modern game, a player with the footballing brain to master the sweeper brief and keep things tight and organised at the back.

The 28-year-old has perfected the role through several seasons of sacrificing his own game and working for the greater good of the team.

But he’s hoping he will get to savour his moment of individual glory by climbing the steps of the Healy Park stand to take delivery of the O’Neill Cup this weekend.

“My role is not as a scorer,” he said. “Of course you get forward an odd time, but trying to keep the scores to a minimum for the other team is my job. I’ll just take it for the team.”

Both finalists have come through tight games on their way to this weekend’s title decider, with Killyclogher dragging themselves back from the brink to deny Ardboe and win their semi-final in extra-time.

We showed a lot of character in the last few minutes of that game. We knew we were never beaten until the final whistle. We were creating a few chances but the ball wasn’t really sticking at times when we were going through. There were a few mistakes, but we always knew we were going to get the chance, and thank God we took it.

Three points down in stoppage time with ace finisher Mark Bradley off the pitch, they had to look elsewhere for scores, and Conall McCann who rescued them with a dramatic goal. “There’s no man bigger than the team here. Mark has carried us with his talent, and it’s great to have him but every player makes his own contribution. We have all dug in and got over the line.”