January 2, 2017, is the date the Irish Premier League droughts ended.
On the same night Shane Long scored his first goal in 11 months, James McClean bagged his first at club level since September 2016.
In truth, both goals were pretty damn good too, although the Derry man got a little lucky with his finish in West Brom’s Premier League clash against West Ham.
However, it is fair to say that McClean made his own luck with the goal. His superb run from his own half was worthy of any bit of luck that helped the cause.
Once he gained a yard or two on his marker in midfield, McClean turned on the afterburners.
Once he’s in that sort of humour, no one else is getting to that ball, especially when it’s in space like that.
With no teammates to aim for, McClean decided that when he needed this particular job done, the best do it himself.
After sprinting down the wing, he swiftly cut inside to continue darting through the centre of the pitch. A tackle was made by the opposing defender, but he dodged it beautifully.
Once he started approaching the opposition box, some of his teammates had caught up with him. Unfortunately, the West Ham defence had also organised themselves meaning that options were somewhat limited.
With one teammate well offside and another surrounded by defenders, McClean thought ‘Fuck it,’ and tried his luck from the edge of the box.
It was an ambitious effort, but his luck really came in.
His powered shot took an almighty deflection off the hoop of the defender closing him down.
The ball floated high into the sky, but McClean generated enough force with his shot for it to sail towards the goal.
It kept dropping at just the right pace to lob the keeper and hit the back of the net. A beautiful goal, albeit one that was helped out by a deflection.
