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Thirty-two of Niall’s 50 caps have been won as
an Aberdeen player, 13 were won during his time
with Celtic, four while on a season-long loan spell
at Brentford and one - on his debut - with Derry
City.
When Nigel Worthington gave Niall his debut in
a friendly against Hungary at Windsor Park on
November 19, 2008 he became the first Derry City
player to win a senior international cap since Liam
Coyle who made his one and only appearance for
Northern Ireland versus Chile on May 26, 1989.
To date Niall has played a total of 2,457 minutes
for the senior international side; 804 of those
minutes have come in friendly matches, 782
in World Cup qualifiers, 702 in European
Championship games and 169 in the Carling
Nations Cup.
The Donaghmore man has only played the full
90 minutes in six of his 50 appearances. He has
started a full international on 27 occasions and
been used as a substitute on 23 occasions (scoring
Niall McGinn won his 50th cap for Northern Ireland in the friendly
against Croatia last November. Here we look back at some of the
highlights among Niall’s half-century of appearances in a green shirt…
twice!). He has also been an unused substitute no
fewer than 12 times.
All three of Niall’s international goals have
been scored in competitive matches away from
Windsor Park. His first goal for his country was in
October 2012 in a 1-1 draw with Portugal in Porto
the night Cristiano Ronaldo won his 100th cap. His
second arrived on September 7, 2014 in the now
famous 2-1 victory over Hungary in Budapest. Of
course his last came in that never to be forgotten
2-0 Euro 2016 Finals success over the Ukraine in
Lyon last June.
Niall, along with Alan Mannus, Gareth McAuley,
Luke McCullough and Stuart Dallas, was one of five
players in the Northern Ireland Euro 2016 squad to
have played Irish League football before embarking
on a career in the professional game. He made
a total of 64 appearances for Dungannon Swifts
between 2005 and 2008, scoring four goals for the
Tyrone outfit.
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