McGinn’s wait is over as Irish get off to a winning start

IT HAS been a long wait for Niall McGinn since he made his international debut more than a decade ago, but the Aberdeen winger’s first goal at Windsor Park set up a valuable Group C win last night. Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill had emphasised the importance of victory in the first two games against Estonia and Belarus, with Germany and Holland waiting later in the campaign. And just when it looked like being a night of frustration, McGinn broke the deadlock in the 56th minute. Jordan Jones was excellent down the left throughout and it was his cross that led to the goal. Kyle Lafferty disrupted the Estonia defence and prodded square to McGinn, who turned it home from ten yards. No one was more relieved than Paddy McNair after he was guilty of an awful miss in the first half. Again Jones was the provider, his cross finding the midfielder unmarked four yards from goal. But he headed down and over the bar with only goalkeeper Sergei Lepmets to beat. Northern Ireland were unfortunate that Croatian referee Ivan Bebek did not award a penalty just before the halfhour mark when Jamal Lewis was taken down in full flight by Nikita Baranov. McGinn’s goal opened the game up and goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell preserved the lead when he came out to save one-on-one from Henri Anier. But captain Steven Davis made sure of victory when he converted a 75th-minute penalty after Bebek had pointed to the spot for Estonia skipper Karol Mets’ foul on George Saville. Aberdeen forward McGinn said: ‘We wanted to get the three points tonight and we will dust ourselves down for the next game on Sunday.’ Manager O’Neill added: ‘It was never gong to be an easy and straightforward game. We had opportunities in the first half and the longer the game goes on, they would have more belief. ‘But we got the goal in the second half and could have scored a few more. ‘There are a lot of things we are pleased about and some bits to work on. ‘In the Nations League, our end product was not good enough at this level. We got into the final third a lot but the final ball was not good enough or didn’t have enough men getting across. I have told the players we have to improve on that.’ The result ends a run of eight competitive games without a win and leaves O’Neill’s side in good shape for Belarus, who visit Belfast on Sunday.