We seem to have been doing this forever, yet we thought we’d never do it again. But as far as interviewing Niall McGinn is concerned, it’s good to talk. Again.

After a brief spell half a world away, Niall has returned to Pittodrie thoroughly refreshed and raring to go. It’s plain to see that he’s enjoying playing again, just as much as we are enjoying watching him.

“It’s true, I am enjoying my football massively. It has been easy for me to come back in. It’s a place I am very familiar with as I spent five years here and it was a period I enjoyed immensely.

“For me to come back and get a longer term contract, it has been a case of picking up where I left off. It has been made easy because there are so many familiarities – the players, the management staff and Pittodrie itself. I have stepped in and have felt very good.

“Thankfully, we are doing well, we have a good squad of players, and that makes everything easier. Whilst I was away, the manager has recruited very well. We have some real quality in the squad and strength in depth too.

“I was not away for that long anyway! It only felt like a couple of months. I came in to the club to discuss the final terms and I was sitting in the physio room. No one really knew, so the boys were a bit surprised to see me. Then normality came around very quickly!

“There have not been a lot of changes. Even if you look at the types of players the manager has brought in, they are all quality players. Gary Mackay-Steven, like Jonny, is very quick and is good with the ball at his feet and taking men on and creating chances for other players as well as scoring goals.

“He brought in another flair player with Greg Stewart coming up from Birmingham. Then he has also brought in experience with Kari coming back to the club. It is good having his experience in the dressing room.

“I kept in close contact with the manager when I was away. When the news broke that I was coming back, discussion progressed massively with the manager, as well as Tony. Tony always reiterates to me how important I can be in regards to my assists and also chipping in with goals as well. It is maybe another dimension that the team like having, as I can create and score goals. It was maybe a dimension that they missed a little when I was away. I can help with set pieces as well.

“I am just happy that I have come back and settled in a lot quicker than I probably would have thought. Especially with being out for so long and having an injury. I was probably thrown in to the team quicker than I would have thought. Against Kilmarnock, the plan I think was to get 60 minutes to me but I landed up playing 80.

“You get an adrenaline rush and feel that you can run about all day. When you score a goal like that, you are on a high.

“The three games in a week was very tough for me but it could not have worked out any better, getting the three wins, a couple of goals and a few assists. It was perfect. it was heavy on the body at the time but I was glad I did it.

“The last couple of weeks, there has been a gap between the games which has allowed me to work on my fitness. I knew it would take at least four or five 90 minute games before I am back to full speed, but I could not have expected it to go as well as it has.

“Since I decided to come back I have worked very closely with Adam Stokes. The rehab programme he had and the strength work he has done with me was top class. He did not rush me back too quickly. Everything is done at his pace. He is a good guy and is doing a very good job for the club. I have really enjoyed working with him, but you would rather not be in the physio room!

“I am still coming in every day and getting checked over and doing extra bits in the gym, which you have to do to maintain the strength around the abdominal area. I am training most days now which is good and I have the games to look forward to”.

Niall has also returned in time to maintain what is now an age-old tradition at Pittodrie – knocking in a goal of the season contender!

“Since I have been here, I have been up for goal of the season, probably every season – there have been seasons when I have two or three contenders. At the end of the day though, it is up to the fans who they think is best.

“A couple of years ago when I scored the goal against Hearts, that was my favourite goal I have scored. Then Jonny riffled one in against Celtic and he won it!

“I really enjoyed the goal against Kilmarnock. I did well to close the guy down as he has tried to go inside and won the ball. I just kept running. Kenny and Gary made good runs which helped create space. I skipped past the defender and then looked up and thankfully I caught the ball really well and it went into the far corner. I was delighted with the goal.

“But Scott deserved to get all the credit and attention. It was an unbelievable hit from 40 yards!”
Not too many Dons down the years have had Niall’s knack of scoring so many special goals – maybe only Eoin Jess is up there with him, unless you are a connoisseur of the two yard Rooney special! Where does the Kilmarnock goal rank in his all-time list?

“It is up there. The Hearts one at Tynecastle was my favourite, but the goal against Kilmarnock would probably be my second favourite. So it is definitely up there.

“The goal against Hearts was my top goal though. At the time, we played some great football, I think we won our first eight or nine games, and our first half performance against Hearts was the best we played during that spell. We went 3-0 up and I contributed with a goal and an assist.

“It was a great first half for me personally. I got a nutmeg in the corner on my marker and then did the shimmy to get past Paterson before putting the ball past Neil Alexander. It was a good occasion too, a full house at Tynecastle.

“Goals are great but for me it is important to get assists too because you are helping the team. It never goes unnoticed by the manager or Tony Docherty, nor by your team mates.

“Probably it is only the last few years that the wider world has taken so much notice of assists, with players like Kevin De Bruyne creating awareness of how important they are to the team. Thierry Henry said recently that he got more satisfaction from providing goals than scoring as he believes it is the hardest part of the game.

“Saying that, I will be honest and say that I would like to get to 100 goals for the club. I think getting 100 goals being a wide player would be a great achievement for myself. Adam Rooney is flying at the moment. His goal return is really impressive. He will always get chances with the amount of creative players we have here – Kenny McLean, Greg Stewart, Ryan Christie, Gary Mackay-Steven, Scott Wright and myself. With that amount of quality, Adam will go on and continue to break all kinds of records. But I would be very proud to reach 100 goals for this club.

“Hopefully I can contribute goals and assists across the rest of the season because it starts to get really serious now. It’s a good pressure to have. It’s the big games like this Kilmarnock cup game that you look forward to. Obviously we have a lot of very important games coming up as we get closer to the end of the season. If want to achieve what we want to achieve, we have to be winning most of those games starting with this one.”