Life’s a stroll for McGinn ahead of the real action
IT IS safe to say that the day off granted to Northern Ireland’s players yesterday turned out to be considerably more sedate than the manner in which Billy Bingham’s World Cup heroes let their hair down 34 years ago. Michael O’Neill gave his squad permission to leave their chateau retreat outside Lyon and wander into the nearby village as they count down to Sunday’s Group C opener against Poland. Top scorer Kyle Lafferty joined the rest of his team-mates after training on his own in the morning under the supervision of medical staff, who are continuing to monitor his recovery from a groin injury. ‘We haven’t really been out of the hotel yet apart from coming to training,’ said Aberdeen’s Niall McGinn. ‘It’s our first day off and we’ll have an opportunity to chill out. It’ll just be a few coffees with the rest of the boys.’ McGinn may have plenty on his mind given how he appreciates Euro 2016 could be a ‘frustrating’ campaign, personally, due to Northern Ireland’s recent formation change. O’Neill’s decision to implement a back three with wing-backs in the run up to France has deprived McGinn of an international start in any of his country’s five fixtures since they qualified. The 28-year-old had started half of the games in the qualification campaign and it was his impact off the bench in the opening win in Hungary, where he scored once and set up Lafferty for the winner, that set them on the road to a historic group success. And McGinn accepts he may have to now forge a role as one of O’Neill’s go-to options among his replacements because of the system switch which came in following qualification. ‘I feel great but it’s just probably going to be a wee bit frustrating for myself with the formation we’re adopting, not playing with any wingers,’ conceded the Pittodrie star, who is likely to be on the bench on Sunday as O’Neill’s men aim to extend their unbeaten run to 13 games. McGinn insists it is form that has garnered respect. ‘Teams are going to stand back and look at us as a real threat,’ he stressed. ‘It can only be a good thing.’
CHRIS WHEELER