Today see's the much deserved call up to the Northern Ireland squad for two Derry bhoys currently showcasing their skills at the Celtic Football Club.
On a purely footballing note, this is good news for Nigel Worthington's green and white army. Both Niall McGinn and Pat McCourt have been in excellent form recently and the addition of these two players can only make our midfield stronger. McCourt has been making all the headlines in Scotland with some strands of the tartan media putting Paddy on a par with, who else, but George Best! Then again, since when did anyone actually believe anything The Sun newspaper published?!
Sorry, but the Best comparison is definately pushing it (unless they mean his drinking exploits).
However, McCourt would be right to set his sights first and foremost on making himself a regular fixture in the Celtic line-up week-in week-out before any credible comparisons can be drawn. Same goes for young McGinn. He's probably seen some of the limelight taken from him by Paddy's publicity in recent weeks but there's no doubt about it, the former Dungannon Swifts & Derry City winger is one for the future. It was duely noted by the lads in the Northern Ireland set-up. They rate him very highly. They also realise a huge gap has been left in the NI midfield with Keith Gillespie's departure from international football, and the opportunity for Niall is definately there.
Expect both Paddy and Niall to get run-outs in next months World Cup 'qualifier' against Czech Republic. The word 'qualifier' not really justifying it's use in this occasion as both teams are all but out of contention barring a San Marino draw with Slovenia... and to be fair to San Marino, there's more chance Michael Jackson doing a 50 show comeback tour 'live from the grave'.
But you can bet that should the inevitable occur, Paddy and Niall be back stronger than ever next year for the European Championship's in 2012.
Good luck bhoys! Do 'Our Wee Country' proud.
