Steven Beattie has gone the extra yard to recover from his hamstring tear.
Now he's desperate to derail Dundalk's chase for a double and deliver a third Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup on the bounce for Cork City.
The Skerries man limped out of the drawn semi-final with Bohs at the end of September and looked highly unlikely to recover in time for yet another rematch with the Lilywhites.
However, double training sessions and a serious dollop of determination have put him right back in the frame to start at the Aviva Stadium this weekend, and he can't wait for another taste of such a big occasion.
"I'm fine, the original diagnosis wasn't great," he told RTÉ Sport.
"I had a tear in the hamstring. It was four to six weeks, and I'm only out three and half to four now. I've been doing double sessions to get back. There was no way I was missing Sunday.
"I'm a few weeks ahead of schedule. I got a good hour against Bray on Friday so it's all systems go. I'm looking forward to it. It's a great rivalry. These are the big games you want to play in.
"Dundalk have had a great season, we finished second to a very good team, but we're going for three in a row, which is unheard of down in Cork. It's going to be a great occasion, especially for the neutral."
Stephen Kenny's impressive Dundalk side wrestled the league crown from Cork's grasp this year, easing to the title after a campaign in which, domestically, they barely put a foot wrong.
They lost last year's decider to the Leesiders, who clinched the double on penalties, so the chance for revenge will have the Louth club licking their lips.
Beattie conceded Cork will be slight underdogs, but that's a tag they will relish.
"You never want to finish second, no matter what," he added.
"We let the league slip, we went through a blip with nine or ten games to go and we never recovered. Credit to Dundalk, they deserved it. They were the better team throughout the year but Sunday is a once-off.
"It's the biggest day in the calendar for League of Ireland players and fans. You've won one, you've won two, it doesn't matter. You always want more and more.
"They won the league so they probably will be favourites but that's not the attitude we have. We're the cup holders the last two years. The best team will win on the day."
