Flying Don Niall seeks crowning glory of cup
IF THIS is to prove Niall McGinn’s last season as an Aberdeen player, the winger would like to go out on the sweetest of highs. The Northern Ireland international is out of contract in the summer and has already received a pre-contract proposal from Hearts, while others south of the border have noted interest.
McGinn’s refusal to commit means Aberdeen remain in with a shout of retaining his services, but for now he is focused on one very particular goal and he intends to take a step towards achieving it this afternoon.
The Dons entertain Partick Thistle in the William Hill Scottish Cup and McGinn admits there is a determination to achieve something tangible to match the results and accompanying praise that Derek McInnes’ team have accrued over the past couple of years.
‘I think we have been very consistent,’ said McGinn. ‘The manager has been very good since he came in and that has shown in our form and our league position.
‘We’ve won the League Cup (in 2014) and now we want to top everything off by winning the Scottish Cup. That would be a great way to define this team that the manager has put together.’
That McGinn should speak of a definitive success is perhaps a hint that he will not be around to chase further rewards beyond the end of the campaign.
At 29, he is probably at the peak of his earning powers and although Hearts have tabled some enticing terms, there are those at both Tynecastle and Pittodrie who fear his future will instead reside in the English Championship.
McGinn’s performances for Northern Ireland at the Euros last summer were eye-catching and McInnes has been impressed by both his application and level of form for the Dons on the back of his exertions last summer.
A January holiday in San Francisco helped recharge McGinn’s batteries and he has been pivotal to the run which has seen the team forge ahead of Rangers in the Premiership’s second spot.
Even allowing for the midweek loss at Hamilton — as luckless a defeat as you will ever see — Aberdeen look well primed to land the runners-up spot for a third consecutive year, the first of McInnes’ stated goals going into 2017.
The other was the acquisition of the game’s oldest trophy, with the stark memories of defeat to Celtic in November’s League Cup final a prime motivation.
‘The hunger is definitely there,’ said McGinn. ‘We have had a taste of winning a trophy and we want more of that. We’ve been to one final this season and now we want to make it two.
‘Before the season started, we decided that we were going to challenges ourselves. We said we wanted to get to both cup finals. We managed one. Now we want to make the second and actually win it.
‘We are obviously close and when you get to the semi-final stage, anything can happen.
‘We are in a good place at the moment and we want to take all the experiences we have had — the good of winning the cup a couple of years ago and the bad from November — and use it to drive ourselves on.
‘It’s no good constantly getting to semis and finals if you’re not winning, so we want to make that next step.’
Aberdeen bombarded Hamilton in an extraordinarily one-sided match last Tuesday night.
Having created so many chances, there was frustration at the outcome, although less so with the performance — meaning confidence remains high going into today’s game.
Yet Thistle’s own stealthily impressive run of four straight wins since the teams last met at Pittodrie earlier this year has not gone unnoticed.
‘We are in a good place and need to try to capitalise on that,’ said McGinn. ‘We enjoyed stringing together so many wins, so Tuesday was very frustrating but there’s no better game to go into than a Scottish Cup tie at home.
‘We are going to have a big crowd behind us but we know how tough it will be. Thistle have been doing well and had a really good result against Hearts last weekend, so that serves as a warning.’
In truth, Aberdeen have no right to harbour complacency, not while memories burn embarrassingly bright of their meek showing against Celtic in the season’s first showpiece occasion.
Confident of giving Brendan Rodgers’ team a real game on the neutral stage of a Hampden final, Aberdeen folded like a freshly laundered dishtowel as Celtic sauntered to a 3-0 win.
‘We know ourselves that we didn’t show up for the League Cup final,’ said McGinn. ‘It hurt but with a bit of luck we’ll make another final.’
‘IT WOULD BE A GOOD WAY TO DEFINE THIS TEAM THE MANAGER HAS PUT TOGETHER’