JAMIE McGRATH EXCLUSIVE: I owe St Mirren everything BUDDIES
Scoring a brace to help his side topple a then undefeated Rangers side to reach the League Cup semi-finals.
Helping his Buddies end a 31-year hoodoo by comfortably beating Celtic at Parkhead.
Ending a season as the club’s top goalscorer from midfield and earning a first cap for his country as a result.
It’s no surprise that former St Mirren fans’ favourite Jamie McGrath looks back on his two-year spell in Paisley fondly.
Indeed the affable Irishman admits he still can’t help but smile when he looks back on those two historic victories against the Old Firm last season.
Two standout highlights of a truly incredible personal spell that catapulted him from a relatively unknown League of Ireland prospect to a Scottish Premiership star and fully-fledged Ireland international.
So when McGrath reveals St Mirren was the best thing that’s ever happened to him, it’s not a clever ploy to try and play up to the club’s supporters having left for pastures new.
In fact, it’s hard to argue when he lays out the evidence in black and white.
Speaking exclusively to Express Sport from his new home in England, McGrath said: “It was honestly very hard to leave. There’s such a great family feel about the club and the group is so tight-knit.I loved living in Braehead and being so close to the city, while also having the countryside on your doorstep on the other side.
“It was a very tough decision. I owe St Mirren everything because they were the perfect platform for me personally.
“This was my first chance having come away from home and I fell in love with the place. I thought I’d hate leaving home, but it was just seamless moving over.
“I had chance to go elsewhere when I was a teenager but I didn’t ever go. St Mirren are the best thing that ever happened to me because it made me a man, on and off the pitch.
“It was the best platform I could have ever wanted and if people had told me I’d be playing for Ireland so quickly after I moved over I would have laughed at them.
“It just shows that anything’s possible if you work hard enough and people believe in you. We proved that so many times.
“To play and beat Rangers in the cup and Celtic away at Parkhead, these are just amazing memories that I’ll never forget.
“We had it in our heads that we should be beating Celtic that day. Jim had said before the game this was the perfect time to be playing them and we had to take this chance. We believed we would do it and Kristian Dennis’ goal is probably the best goal I’ve ever been involved in. We were popping them off the pitch.
“Even when Celtic equalised, I still thought we’d go on and win it and thankfully we did. That was dreamland stuff for us.
“Rangers were unbeaten and to knock them out in the last minute was just ridiculous. They equalised late on and you could see they thought they’d turn us over in extra-time.
“For Conor McCarthy to stick that winner away at the death, I’m smiling now just thinking about it.”
Having moved over from Dundalk to try and progress his career in Scotland, McGrath shone almost immediately.
He went on to score an incredible 17 goals in his first full season, notching fearlessly from the penalty spot with comsummate ease while also netting regularly from inside and outside the box. Of course it wasn’t all plain sailing for McGrath during his stint at Saints. Along with some historic highs, there were some truly crushing lows. Not least the missing out on the top six last season on goal difference alone.
McGrath admits not helping the club finish in the top half will remain a big