McGinn lifted Aston Villa’s first major silverware in 30 years last month, capping a journey that began on red ash pitches in the west of Scotland.
The 31-year-old has also just completed his highest-scoring season at club level, adding yet another landmark to a remarkable career.
Success has followed the all-action midfielder at every club he has represented, and those closest to him insist it is no coincidence whatsoever.
At St Mirren, McGinn was part of their first cup triumph in 26 years, before playing the full 90 minutes as Hibernian ended their 114-year wait for a Scottish Cup.
Now he prepares to feature in Scotland’s first men’s World Cup match in 28 years, having played a key role in back-to-back European Championship qualifications.
Born and raised in a working-class area on the outskirts of Glasgow, McGinn takes pride in the fact his rise has taken a different path from many Premier League players.
His family are deeply ingrained in football, with the chances of any youngster in the UK making the professional game estimated at lower than one percent.
Yet McGinn and his two older brothers all managed it, a quite extraordinary achievement by any measure of the sport’s brutal odds.
His late grandfather Jack was Scottish FA president and Celtic chairman, while his mum Mary taught her youngest son at school and even coached his school team.
After pestering the local council into submission, two sets of goals were hammered into a nearby patch of gravel where the McGinn brothers and friends could play freely.
Former St Mirren manager Danny Lennon was immediately struck by the youngster’s qualities, saying: “He wasn’t the biggest, but he had the heart of a lion.”
McGinn’s career was nearly cut devastatingly short when a training-ground prank saw team-mate Steven Thompson pierce his thigh with a spiked pole.
McGinn later revealed he would have “bled out in a minute” had the puncture been a millimetre closer to his femoral artery, a sobering thought given all that followed.
He eventually joined Hibernian after moves to Wigan and Houston Dynamo failed to materialise, and his game reached a new level under Neil Lennon, who called McGinn “the fulcrum” of his side.
Lennon was not shy with tough love either, telling McGinn “you’re not even the best player in your house” following a defeat to brother Stephen’s St Mirren.
Former Hibs team-mate Scott Allan was quickly impressed after expecting something far more one-dimensional from the midfielder’s reputation.
“I was expecting him to be all action and a wee bit loose with the ball, but I was most surprised about how good he was technically,” Allan told BBC Scotland.
Allan also recalled his father’s admiration, saying: “My dad would always say to me: ‘John can’t have a bad game, he’s always involved.'”
Villa paid just £2.75m for his services as Celtic failed to stump up the cash, a decision that now looks a colossal misstep from the Scottish champions.
McGinn scored the winner in the Championship play-off final against Derby at Wembley, and it is poignant that the man who took Villa back up in 2019 went on to lift the Europa League as captain seven years later.
His nickname ‘Meatball’ was born from him having a “big, round head” with a buzzcut during his days at St Mirren, something he revealed with characteristic good humour.
Former Scotland head coach Gordon Strachan noticed McGinn helping the kit man remove equipment from the team bus while team-mates headed straight for training, saying: “That told me right away what he is about – he looks after people.”
After 10 years, 86 caps and 20 goals, there is a genuine scenario in which this man of the people retires as Scotland’s leading scorer and most-capped player.
He is 16 appearances off the record set by Sir Kenny Dalglish, whose joint goals landmark with Denis Law is still 10 better than McGinn’s current tally.
McGinn is a Harry Potter fanatic, but there is nothing fictional about the story of the boy from Clydebank now ready to write more chapters on the grandest stage of all.
