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Personal
Fullname: Niall McGinn
Born: 29 July 1987
Birthplace: Dungannon
Height: 6′ (183cm)
Signed: 1 January 2009
Left: 4 July 2012 (to Aberdeen)
Position: Wide midfielder / Winger
Debut: Celtic 1 – 1 Dundee United, SPL,12 September 2009
Squad No.: 14
Internationals: Northern Ireland
International Caps: 14 [Aug 2011]
International Goals: 0
Biog
Signed by Gordon Strachan, Niall McGinn was an energetic attacking midfielder/winger who began his career playing part time football with hometown team Dungannon Swifts.
During this period he also starred in Gaelic football for both the Donaghmore club and Co. Tyrone U21s. A Dungannon team mate, Mark McAllister, actually signed for Celtic in 2007 before reneging on the deal when learning he was to be put in the youth team.
A 2008 move to full-time professionalism with Derry City saw McGinn’s career flourish although he was compelled to retire from his GAA exploits.
Strong performances for the Brandywell side in the Eircom League soon brought Niall to the attentions of the Northern Ireland set-up and he duly received a couple of U23 caps, including one in a defeat to the Republic in May 2008. His first full international appearance followed in November as the Windsor Park men were given an embarrassing runaround in a home friendly with Hungary.
Despite the rumoured attentions of various English clubs – including Ipswich and even Chelsea – McGinn agreed to join Celtic in mid-December 2008 (though his registration could not be transferred until the transfer window opened on 1 January 2009) for a fee of around £200,000. Attempts to procure the player on a trial basis had earlier been rebuffed by his club.
After arriving in the January 2009 transfer window McGinn spent his first months in the reserves where he showed undoubted promise. His début first team appearance came on 12th September 2009 under the new regime of Tony Mowbray when he put in an impressive display in a 1-1 home draw against Dundee United, collecting the official Man of the Match award.
While first team appearances were mostly restricted to cameos from the substitutes bench McGinn impressed at times with his exciting old-fashioned wing play, and would make 27 appearances in that first season scoring 3 goals. One of the highlights was scoring the winning goal v Morton in the Scottish Cup to win us the game 1-0. His season was curtailed with a broken foot. Unfortunate, but it wasn’t an easy season, as Mowbray was eventually sacked after a poor set of performances however Niall was one of the few positives to come out of Mowbray’s reign.
This injury would have a knock-on effect on his pre-season training into the summer and it would be October 2010 before he would next make a first team appearance. By then McGinn was facing stiff competition for the wide right midfield / right winger spot from James Forrest, who emerged from the U19 team at the start of that season. While McGinn was not able to establish himself as an automatic first team pick, he was a regular fixture in the first team squad able to offer a differing option in the right wing position but things weren’t looking good for him.
On 8th July 2011 it was announced that McGinn would join League 1 side Brentford on loan for the entire 2011/12 season [STV], but then returned to Celtic at the end of the season although nothing had changed, and if anything it was now even more difficult for him to get a place in the first team squad let alone be on the teamsheet with Celtic boasting a glut of quality midfielders.
Inevitably, he had to move on and he transferred over to Aberdeen on 4 July 2012. Not easy to get into the Celtic first squad as said but if McGinn had made it he would have more than deserved it from his effort alone. With Rangers removed from the league following liquidation, Aberdeen were to challenge for a potentially higher place in the league and so it was a good destination to move to.
We hope him the best.
He went on to be a long-term regular and popular player at Aberdeen, helping them to some great highlights including winning the League Cup final in 2014 (their first major trophy since 1995). He was part of the Aberdeen squad that were runners-up to Celtic in all the three senior domestic competitions in season 2016/17 with Celtic going through the entire season undefeated.
He had a short but unfrutiful time in Korea with Gwangju FC, anad then returned to Aberdeen for another long spell. In his entire time with Aberdeen, he played in four senior competition finals, with just that one title win, losing to Celtic in the other three! He later moved to Dundee and then back home to play for Glentoran, and then back to Scotland with Greenock Morton.
[….]
He never lost his Celtic roots, and played in front of 48,000 supporters for a ‘Celtic Legends’ select side at Anfield v their Liverpool counterparts in a charity match in March 2023.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2009-2010 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 20 |
| Goals | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2010-2011 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Goals | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Total Appearances | 28 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 35 |
| Total Goals | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup
Awards
- PFAI Young Player of the Year 2008
| KDS Honours |
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| MOTM Winners 2009-10 | ||
| 18-Dec-09 |
Rapid Vienna 3-3 Celtic |
Europa League Match 5 |