Shane McGinty almost ruined Ballinamallard’s Premiership dream when he scored a wonder goal for Institute in the nail biting relegation play-off match at Ferney Park at the end of last season. 
But for a last gasp Ballinamallard equaliser in June, McGinty would probably be playing Premier league football for the North-West club this season. 
He admits he was devastated as he trudged off Ferney that night, but in a strange twist of fate the22 year old now finds himself as a key player for the Mallards as they look to avoid falling into a similar relegation scrap this season.
“That memory will stay with me for a while but everything happens for a reason and I’m absolutely loving Ballinamallard,” said Shane. 
“It’s funny how things work out. I was so disappointed that night and then I was absolutely delighted to get the call to come to Ballinamallard a month or six weeks later. 
“It is a club similar to Institute in that it has a family feel around it, although it is a much bigger club. I think that is something that suits me and brings out the best in me. I’m delighted to be here and I can’t wait to push on and get a wee bit further up the table.”
McGinty has scored twice for his new club this season. 
The first was in a 2-1 defeat at Portadown and his second came against the same club on Saturday as they once again lost to the team at the foot of the league table. 
Although he scored he was not taking much credit for the goal, and was keen to look for the positives from a disappointing result. 
“There wasn’t much for me to do for the goal,” he said. 
“Young Niall Owens did all the work down the left and produced a great cross and I could hardly miss from five or ten yards.
“It looked like it was going to bring us back into it but unfortunately we fell that little bit short. It was hugely disappointing. 
“We have been encouraged to play free flowing football and I thought we did that on Saturday and we really had a go at Portadown and dominated large parts of it. 
“I think all season it was as well as the team clicked performance wise. We conceded a silly goal for the first and then they hit us with a sucker punch for the second and we had a bit of a mountain to climb. 
“We created chances in the second half, but we just couldn’t take them.”
The attacking midfielder admits it has taken some time to settle at his new club, but he is hopeful they can start to display some consistency in what has been an up and down season to date. 
“I had worked with Gavin before and I knew what he expected, but the way pre-season went wasn’t ideal, and then I even came in a bit late on that,” he said. 
“We beat Ards, Glenavon and Dungannon and it looked like we were beginning to turn the corner and really looking up the league, but we have had a wee bit of a setback lately as a team. 
“Hopefully we will start getting back up again on Saturday. It took me a bit of time but that was my second goal on Saturday and hopefully now I can start chipping in with a few more.”
Next up for the Mallards is an away match at Ballymena. 
In the fixture between the sides earlier in the season Ballinamallard produced an uninspiring display as they lost 1-0 and that win sparked a good spell of results from Ballymena. 
Before last Saturday they had gone seven league games undefeated before a crushing 5-0 defeat to Glenavon. 
Shane knows they will be keen to make amends for that loss, and Ballinamallard will have to play well if they are come away with a positive result. 
“When I played there with Coleraine it was always a difficult place to go,” he recalled. 
“Maybe their defeat on Saturday will have dropped them down a peg or two but I’m sure we are going to get a massive reaction from David Jeffrey and his boys on Saturday and it might make it that wee bit more tougher for us going there. 
“For me I would say that the Ballymena and Coleraine were the worst two performances we have had all season. We really let people down on those days and we didn’t show up, so we have to try to make up for that,” he stated.