Glentoran winger Niall McGinn says his exuberant celebration after scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Cliftonville was borne out of frustration at not starting the game.
The Northern Ireland international fired home from an acute angle soon after being introduced as a second-half substitute at the Oval on Saturday.
“I’ve bided my time and made an impact when called upon,” said McGinn.
“I must have run about 80-yards to show my frustration and excitement.”
‘Chomping at the bit’
The 72-times capped former Aberdeen player produced a sublime piece of skill to set up the goalscoring chance and applied an equally impressive finish to settle a close contest and give his side a fourth win from their opening six league outings.
After finding the net, the 36-year-old ran behind the goal and halfway up the touchline in celebration.
“I’ve been chomping at the bit the last couple of weeks. My last game was against Loughgall, then I came on against Ballymena and set up the second goal there – it’s just been frustrating because I haven’t been playing,” he told BBC Radio Ulster’s Sportsound programme.
“It’s up to me, as I’ve always done throughout my career, to knuckle down, keep myself right, and when called upon try and make an impact. Thankfully I did that.
“I knew [Odhran] Casey [Cliftonville defender] was on a yellow card so I just tried to shimmy the hips.
“He fell for it and I saw a wee gap at the near post. I caught it nicely and thankfully it ended up in the net.”
‘Still life in these 36-year old legs’
Glentoran’s triumph over their Belfast rivals elevated them to third place in the Premiership standings.
“Credit to Cliftonville they always play football, always make it hard for you. Jim [Magilton] has them playing nice football and we knew it would be tough,” continued McGinn.
“The boys were tired out there as the Crusaders game in midweek took a lot out of them, so it probably helped having the likes of myself to add a wee bit more energy to the team and create that chance. Thankfully I came up with it.
“I don’t think we’ve hit any kind of good form yet but we know if we keep clean sheets we’ll always create chances and we took that big moment when it came along.
“Knowing Warren [Feeney, Glentoran manager] from having played with him at international level, he likes that bit of aggression and maybe proving his decisions right or wrong at times.
“I want to do well for this club, I’ve really enjoyed it since I came in and I wanted to show what I can do, that there’s still life in these 36-year old legs yet.”
