McGinn the fan becomes Niall the scorer

Niall McGinn's joy at his first Celtic goal was obvious to all on Saturday as the ball hit the back of the Kilmarnock net.

The 22-year-old from County Tyrone has forced his way into Tony Mowbray's squad this season and made a favourable impression on the support with his pace and direct approach to taking on defenders.

In any circumstances scoring your first goal for a club is a special feeling but for the dwindling band of supporters to have graduated into the first team it must be extra special.

Aiden McGeady was fortunate enough to score on his Celtic debut against Hearts in 2004 but there weren't many friendly faces celebrating when his shot hit the net.

BAMBOOZLED
A few months after McGeady's debut goal Alan Thompson, what a surprise, sent in a stinging shot that bamboozled Stefan Klos as it bent and swerved it's way over the German into the goal.

Behind Klos celebrating was the teenage McGinn, jumping for joy as his first visit to Celtic Park ended in victory to give him something to celebrate all the way home and no doubt through the next week or two.

After scoring his first Celtic goal against Kilmarnock at the weekend McGinn was happy to recall the emotions that he felt as a fan celebrating one of Thompson's many goals against Rangers.

McGinn recalled: "I'll never forget the first time I watched a match at Celtic Park, I was sitting behind the goal when Alan Thompson scored a late winner against Rangers.

CELEBRATIONS
"I was going mad after that goal so it was special to score my first Celtic goal at the same end then share the celebrations with the supporters.

"I'd thought about my celebrations, I had a few planned but just ran over to the crowd and kissed the badge.

"I grew up supporting Celtic. When I came back to the halfway line I put my hand up to my mother and father who were in the Players' Lounge watching me.

UNBELIEVABLE
"When I got back to the changing room after the match there was a lot of messages and missed calls on my phone, the support that I'm getting from back home is unbelievable. There is a big following from my area for Celtic and everyone seems interested in how I'm getting on.

"A lot of people give up time to travel over from Ireland to watch Celtic. It was my dream as a boy to play here and I loved coming over for games.

"I know what it's like to be a supporter, to be playing for Celtic is very special and I like to give something back to the people that are travelling over from Ireland."

Evening Herald interview with Niall McGinn

Niall McGinn's Gaelic passion

Celtic new boy Niall McGinn could easily have been lost to football/soccer if his heart had ruled his head into pursuing a career in GAA.

The former Derry City winger made an impressive debut against Dundee United on Saturday in a move that surprised the player as much as anyone.

The McGinn story has been a whirlwind over the last two years since he ended his dual sporting career with Dungannon Swifts and Tyrone GAA to concentrate on soccer with Derry City.

One season at the Brandywell was enough to take him into the Northern Irish international squad with the award of Young Player of the Year for the League of Ireland bringing him to Celtic's attention and a move to Glasgow at the start of 2009.

Whilst speaking to Niall after the match on Saturday he dropped in a mention about playing GAA and only giving it up when he was offered full-time soccer with Derry City.

GAELIC
He said: "I've been playing Gaelic since I was eight-year-old right up until I turned full-time with Derry under two years ago. After that I had to knock Gaelic on the head.

"I had an option to play with Tyrone, the soccer was going well for me so I decided to go with that and thankfully it's proved to be the right decision."

That prompted some googling on my part, cynically to begin with, as there are often stories from people in one field or profession mentioning what a near miss they had in another career.

Niall however underplayed his talent at GAA as my googling soon uncovered references such as

Aidan Cassidy and Niall McGinn, who eventually proved tormentor-in-chief with 2-6, posted the goals to supplement Tyrone s eight point haul at the end of the first quarter

Niall McGinn, the Teamtalk Young Club footballer of the year, came on in the second half in place of Philip Toner, both players unable to play for the full game with an All-Ireland Colleges final coming up three days later.

It'll be very interesting now to see how McGinn's career develops.

AUTHENTIC
Neither Aiden McGeady or Shaun Maloney could be described as authentic wingers, they are mainly wide midfielders more likely to cut inside than hit the by-line or send in a punishing cross.

While McGinn's pace and control was impressive on Saturday there was no real target for him to aim at with Scott McDonald the sole striker until Georgios Samaras came on.

To get the most out of McGinn a target man, possibly Chris Killen, playing alongside McDonald would give more options.

MOWBRAY
The return from suspension of McGeady is likely to end McGinn's first-team 'run' but he did enough to suggest that he is a more than useful option for the first team, Tony Mowbray remarked that ideally he'd liked to have had the former Derry City winger available on the bench to give Maloney and McGeady a breather now and then.

Time will tell whether McGinn makes it or not at Celtic but in a flat performance against Dundee United his performance was one of the few highlights.

Hopefully his Celtic career will accelerate leaving no regrets over his decision to give up on Tyrone GAA in order to play for Derry City and earn a move to Celtic.

EVENING HERALD REPORT