Derry City star tempted by Celtic

Irish football’s hottest prospect, Niall McGinn, has welcomed the inclusion of Celtic into the race for his signature.

It is understood the Parkhead club are considering making a bid for the 21-year-old Derry City midfielder, who is being coveted by several clubs including Swansea City.

The former Dungannon Swifts player has quickly become the most talked about player in Ireland following his move to the Brandywell in January.

McGinn was recently named young player of the year by the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland days before he made his debut for Northern Ireland, coming off the bench against Hungary at Windsor Park.

McGinn said signing for the Clydesdale Bank Premier League champions would be an obvious temptation.

However, the confident youngster insists he will be motivated by what is best for his career.

“Celtic are obviously a big club and it is a great honour to discover that they are looking at me,” he said. “It would be a great move.

“I was a Manchester United fan as a boy but Celtic were my Scottish team, so it is obviously something I would consider.

“There are a few clubs in for me, so I will have a look at my options.

“But I don’t want to play in the reserves, I want to play first-team football. I need to be playing regularly to keep me in the Northern Ireland squad.

“So there is no point leaving Derry City, where I am getting first-team football, to play in the reserves in Scotland, or for that matter, in England.”

Celtic may have to move smartly to capture McGinn, who is taking a break following the end of the eircom League season.

Swansea are leading the chase for the player and have looked at him on numerous occasions.

McGinn’s agent, Gerry Carlile, said: “If Celtic are interested then they need to contact Derry City first and then contact me.”

Celtic are likely to be adding to their squad in January from a position of strength after their 1-0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle yesterday took them seven points clear of rivals Rangers, who were beaten 2-1 at Hearts in their lunchtime kick-off at Tynecastle.

After the disappointment of their Champions League defeat against Aalborg in Denmark, which ended Celtic’s involvement in Europe for the season, there was no surprise everything was a bit flat at Parkhead for the visit of the Highlanders.

Shaun Maloney’s strike in the 29th minute, however, was enough to separate the sides, which pleased Stephen McManus, although the Celtic skipper was not inclined to read too much into their lead at the top of the table.

He said: “It was good to come back and get a win.

“We didn’t play tremendously well but the most important thing was to get the three points.

“We will take it every week as it comes and we can only look after ourselves.

“We weren’t boosted by the result at Tynecastle.

“We knew there was a chance to go further clear but the motivation was already there.”

Caley boss Craig Brewster bemoaned his side’s inability to take advantage of a rather lacklustre Celtic display.

He said: “We started the game well and we had a fair amount of possession but we didn’t do enough to hurt Celtic.

“We got in to good areas but didn’t pick the right option.”