Lower league football will be a new experience for Dundee winger Niall McGinn.
Having battled it out for the top prizes throughout his career in Scottish football, the Northern Ireland international says he is looking forward to the different challenge of a promotion push.
The Dark Blues head into the Championship this season as promotion favourites for the title after dropping down from the Premiership last season.
After two seasons at Celtic and a decade at Aberdeen, with a spell at Korean outfit Gwangju in 2017, McGinn is faced with a different sort of challenge at Dens Park this season.
McGinn said: “It is one I am looking forward to. I haven’t been in this situation in my career before.
“I obviously played at Aberdeen for a long time, being constantly in Europe, cup semi-finals and finals as well as competing at the top end of the Premiership.
“So I am looking forward to it.
“It is about players like myself and others with experience to bring that sort of winning mentality here.
“We are going to need that throughout the season – we are going to need the young lads pushing in the right direction and the older lads using their ability and experience.
“It is going to take a collective team effort from the manager to the whole group of players.
“What would it mean to have promotion on my CV? It would be huge.
“That’s the main aim for the season and we will all be pushing in the right direction to do so.”
Risking Rudden’s wrath
Competitive football, though, has begun in earnest with the Premier Sports Cup group stage.
McGinn is already off the mark for the campaign, netting a fine opening goal in a 3-0 win over Hamilton Accies.
After Josh Mulligan had stormed through midfield McGinn ended up two-on-one before sending a precise finish in off the far post.
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And he admits he was ready to bear the brunt of Zak Rudden’s anger for taking the shot on himself rather than passing.
“Josh is always full of running from midfield and I thought he was going to get the nick in before the defender came across,” McGinn said.
“I just kept it low, put it in the corner and thankfully it went in.
“I was delighted it did as I think Zak wouldn’t have been happy as he would have been on for a tap-in.
“I know if the shoe was on the other foot, he would have been shooting as well.
“Any season, you want to get off the mark quickly so to score in our first competitive game was nice.”
Short summer
Remarkably McGinn’s first goal of the 2022/23 season came less than a month after his final match of 2021/22.
The experienced winger made his 72nd appearance for Northern Ireland in a 2-2 Nations League tie on June 12.
It is, though, a situation he has managed to get to grips with over the years.
McGinn said: “I have been well used to it, that’s for sure!
“It is always nice for me to get away and play with Northern Ireland.
“I had two weeks to myself after that. The manager gave me an extended break so I missed the start of pre-season.
“He has been brilliant with me since I came back.
“So I have been working on my match fitness again and I played 60-odd minutes against Hamilton so it is all about progressing every week now.
“I feel good and I am looking forward to the upcoming games.”
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