Way back in 1998, when he was a 24-year-old man, Stephen McGuinness travelled to Kilkenny one Friday evening in hope rather than expectation. At that point of his career, he had yet to win anything of significance and, barring a miracle, his CV was unlikely to be updated by the time night had fallen. Yet there was something that prevented him from being a non-believer. Three years earlier, a similarly-scripted League of Ireland title run-in resulted in the heavily backed favourites going down on the final day of the season.

So here he was, in a Buckley Park dressing room, knowing that not only did his St Pat’s side need to take care of business against lowly Kilkenny City, but, just as pressingly, a favour