FOOTBALL: Boss hails new boy McGinn
NORTHERN Ireland boss Nigel Worthington hailed the emergence of the energetic Niall McGinn in Saturday's International friendly against Serbia at Windsor Park.
The young Celtic winger lit up Windsor Park on a dull evening. His exciting array of skills made the World Cup qualifiers look alarmingly ordinary on occasions.
McGinn's lightning bursts of pace continually caused havoc – and he almost opened his international goal account late in the first half. His stinging left-footed effort brought an equally impressive response from Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.
"Niall's impish and he exciting," said Worthington, who was delighted with his team's performance against a side who waltzed through their qualifying group en-route to South Africa.
"He has grown in confidence. I always knew there was something there, even before he went to Celtic.
"Niall will be a very important player for Northern Ireland in the future.
"His pace is frightening. He can whip over excellent crosses and he knows where the goal is. He can be very pleased with his display.
"The good thing is, we have a bunch of experienced players to help the young ones come through."
The big talking point before kick-off was the fact that top scorer David Healy was dropped for the first time.
Healy, of course, lacks match fitness, continuingly occupying the substitutes' bench at Sunderland.
Worthington admitted the decision to leave out his talisman was made weeks ago.
"David was fine when I informed him he would not be playing," added Worthington. "For David, like the others, you have to work hard to play in the first team . . . or try to get football elsewhere. I have been harping on about it for some time.
"I made up my mind to leave out David before the squad met up.
"Basically, it's the first time in months that I've had Kyle Lafferty and Warren Feeney in the squad. Both have been plagued with injury.
"I thought it was an ideal time to start them and I thought they worked well together."
Healy did make a second half appearance and, in fact, almost salvaged a draw with a clever curling shot from the edge of the box that scraped past the post.
"David did extremely well when he came on," added Nigel. "Obviously, he is lacking game time at Sunderland, but came agonisingly close to grabbing a draw for us.
"I was delighted with the chances we created. Overall, it was a pleasing showing. Our work rate and passing were excellent against a high quality side.
"Serbia showed just why they are going to South Africa. They can move the ball quickly, are technically efficient – a class outfit."
It took a wonderful piece of opportunism to break the resistance of Worthington's battlers.
Manchester United's Zoran Tosic made ground down the left on 57 inutes. His cross was sensationally dummied by Kacar Gojko and PSV Eindhoven striker Danko Lazovic rammed the ball home from the edge of the box, leaving veteran goalkeeper Maik Taylor totally exposed.
Northern Ireland certainly had their chances. That McGinn drive was the best of the first half efforts, but after the interval Lafferty failed to touch home a Chris Brunt cross.
Stephen Craigan had a header pawed away by Stojkovic; Grant McCann whipped a free kick inches over, and Healy looked on in frustration has his shot flashed wide.
How he would have love to end his six-game goal drought.
The only disappointment on the night was an injury picked up by Manchester United's Jonny Evans, who was forced out of the game at half time because of a calf injury.
It will almost certainly prompt a response from United boss Sir Alex Ferguson on the on-going debate about meaningless international friendly fixtures.
"I thought it was only fair to Jonny and Manchester United we got him off immediately," added Worthington.
"We have had the problem iced, so it will be 24 hours before we know the full extent of the injury"
Ironically, Evans' United team mate Nemanja Vidic was also withdrawn at the interval. It was the big defender's first piece of action for three week as he was recovering also from a calf problem.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
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