Soccer

Northern Ireland star Niall McGinn likely to miss June Euro 2020 qualifiers

Northern Ireland's Niall McGinn (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game during the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying Group C match against Estonia.
Northern Ireland's Niall McGinn (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game during the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying Group C match against Estonia. Northern Ireland's Niall McGinn (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game during the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying Group C match against Estonia.
By Kenny Archer

NIALL McGinn is a serious injury concern for Northern Ireland’s June Euro 2020 qualifiers after having his club campaign ended by an ankle injury.

The Aberdeen winger damaged ligaments in training on Saturday, ruling him out of the Scottish Cup semi-final against his former club Celtic.

Dons boss Derek McInnes confirmed that the Donaghmore man’s club season is over, with McGinn expected to be ruled out for two to three months.

"We got the worst news yesterday," McInnes told BBC Scotland. "We were about 90 seconds away from naming the team and going through all our work and Niall just really innocuously twisted his ankle.

"Unfortunately for us we knew it was serious right away. He snapped his ligament and he'll be out for two or three months."

Northern Ireland travel to take on Estonia on June 8 then face Belarus on June 11, so the 31-year-old must be deemed unlikely to be involved in those matches.

McGinn scored the opening goal of this Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, breaking the deadlock in the 2-0 home win over Estonia, and also played a part in the first goal of the 2-1 victory over Belarus, also at Windsor Park.