In the event, the man in the armband, Ryan McBride, plays, and picks up the RTÉ Man of the Match award. Derry salvage a point and, in the end, stay up. Job done, move on.

One moment, though, from an otherwise forgettable arm wrestle of a match stood out and later went viral online, with numerous websites asking rhetorically whether Ryan McBride was “the toughest man in Irish football”.

A ball played through the centre circle was off target and as two Cork players hesitated, McBride came thundering through, winning the challenge and up-ending both of them. For his troubles, he was booked — and, after the game, in his laconic way, he shrugged as he told RTÉ’s Tony O’Donoghue he thought the yellow card was harsh.

It was that all-action approach which made McBride — who died suddenly last Sunday at his home, a stone’s throw from Derry’s home grounds — an iconic figure among the Derry City supporters.

McBride was a centre-back from the old school — he picked up plenty of suspensions and plenty of injuries, too, the latter mainly because he had no regard for his safety on the pitch. As his former City team-mate, West Brom’s James McClean, who visited the wake house, said this weekend, McBride “truly was fearless”.

“He was,” said McClean, who will wear the number five jersey in honour of his friend in tonight’s international against Wales, “a warrior that literally would throw his body on the line when he pulled on that Derry City jersey, a club that meant so much to him.”

McBride’s philosophy was summed up three years ago next month when, after a collision with Dundalk striker Richie Hoban, the Derry man swallowed his tongue and was hospitalised for two nights.

Read the poem in full here:

A poem read by @derrycityfc manager Kenny Shiels today for his late captain Ryan McBride. Beautiful tribute. https://t.co/Q9qLz4kNko pic.twitter.com/hVeBs8wLTD

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 23, 2017

City manager Roddy Collins publicly blamed Hoban for the injury but McBride dismissed his manager’s claims, refusing to believe another player was capable of such an act.

“In football, you do everything to win and get three points but you don’t go out to hurt people,” he said, exonerating the striker of any wrongdoing.

That was him; a hard but fair player, brilliant in the air — he was a particular threat from corners — but a defender who could play ball on the deck, too. In another popular YouTube video, the Derry squad take part in the ‘crossbar challenge’, where players trot up the camera, give their name and position and try to hit the bar from the halfway line.

McBride introduced himself as a striker, drawing guffaws from his team-mates — but he duly nailed the challenge.

Donal O’Brien, first team coach at Derry City last season, knew him well. O’Brien formerly managed leading Donegal junior club Cockhill Celtic and regularly came up against McBride as he learned his trade in the Candystripes’ reserve side.

“He was a real hard, tough-tackling centre-half and it was clear from an early age he was destined to go on and play for the first team,” said the Dubliner.

“He was a local boy from the Brandywell area who loved his hometown club. Ryan was a man of few words but, by God, he led by example both on and off the pitch. He didn’t say an awful lot but when he spoke, you listened, it was as simple as that.”

That grounding in junior soccer helped make him the player he was and he never forgot it.

A few months ago, McBride was guest of honour at an awards function for juveniles at the Kildrum Tigers club, also in Donegal. Journalist Chris McNulty, who covers the north-west soccer beat, recalled this week how well the quietly-spoken Derryman represented his club on the night and remembered also an incident when he had lined out for the Candystripes’ second string against Kildrum Tigers in St Johnston seven years earlier.

City manager Eddie Seydak had used his three subs but when McBride got booked for dissent, he called him ashore. Later, the reporter asked the manager why he had done it — Kildrum won the game 3-2 — and the Scot presciently answered it was a vital lesson for a kid destined for senior football.

That evening, McBride openly stated his dream was to captain Derry City, a bold comment from a young reserve player, talented as he was but he went on to achieve that goal, wearing the armband for 50 of his 170 appearances for the club.

At 27, McBride was at the absolute peak of his powers. Just 11 days ago, he captained his team to a 3-1 win over champions Dundalk, with manager Kenny Shiels lauding him afterwards for his courage, having thrown up at half-time as he battled the effects of a flu.

The Inishowen Independent described McBride as “an absolute colossus” in that game, “winning every header, every 50-50 tackle and even getting up late in the game to head the killer third goal”.

The paper, based in Buncrana where City have been playing home games this season, made the Derry captain their man-of-the-match, rounding off the match report with the poignant observation: “If Derry City are to stay in contention this season, it’s imperative they can keep the big man [McBride] fit and well for the full season.”

Five days later, last Saturday, McBride played the full 90 minutes in a 4-0 win over Drogheda, before motoring back to Derry to work a shift in a trad music bar, Peadar O’Donnell’s, in the Waterside, a mile or so from his home at Bluebell Hill Gardens in the shadow of the Brandywell. The following evening, he was gone.

McBride’s sudden passing was just the latest blow in what has been horrendous couple of years for his club. The day after the captain’s death was the first anniversary of the Buncrana tragedy in which five members of club player Josh Daniels’ family perished. And the club’s record scorer Mark Farren died of cancer aged just 33 in February 2016, too.

McBride, who is survived by partner Mairead, father Lexie (himself a former junior soccer player), and sisters Colleen, Siunin, and Caitlain, was laid to rest beside his mother Noreen yesterday.

His funeral mass took place at 10am; immediately afterwards, the funeral of Martin McGuinness — who lived in a neighbouring estate — was held in the same church, St Columba’s, Long Tower.

In his homily, Fr Aidan Mullen described how “Ryan would put his head where other players would not put their boot.”

“He was brave,” added the priest, “and knew no fear.”

A fitting epitaph for the Candystripes’ lost leader.

Ryan McBride Bride - Final Journey pic.twitter.com/bMGeq3XMq4

— Kevin Sharkey (@tv_KevinSharkey) March 23, 2017