Flying forward Benji Magee has been one of the Irish League’s top-performing young guns this campaign.
The Loughgall starlet, who plundered a dramatic late winner to sink Larne at Lakeview Park having already lofted in a sublime leveller against Crusaders at Seaview, added a fresh string to his bow on completing his first senior hat-trick.
Magee buried all three of the Villagers’ finishes in their weekend outing, when they entertained Newry City, and helped the Premiership’s newly promoted outfit make further ground.
Dean Smith’s squad consequently sit on 18 points from their 13 league games played. They are just two points from Coleraine in sixth-place, possessing the top-scoring attack among bottom-half clubs (20) and bested only by Ballymena United in the defensive metric (22).
They were made to work for the three points against Newry, with striker Adam Salley cancelling out Magee’s opener early in the second half, but the 21-year-old replied in style when he shot in a second on 65 minutes before keeping the spoils safe in added-time with the hat-trick goal.
It means Loughgall are 10 points clear of the relegation places with over a third of the top-flight season contested.
A mean feat when one suspects that staying up would have been their principal aim. Sitting seventh-placed, they are instead on course for a potential European play-off should this current form be maintained.
While Smith’s charges had been hovering around the Championship summit for a few years prior to their promotion as champions in 2023, which perhaps added an air that they were top-tier in waiting, not everyone in his panel has had a linear growth.
Magee is very much along those lines.
Two years ago, he was playing in the Premier Intermediate League for PSNI and, thereafter, in development football with Ards Reserves.
It was not until the start of last term that he made the switch from Ards – where he made a handful of first-team appearances in his second stint with the Co Down club – and, after he hit a goal on debut against would-be promotion rivals Warrenpoint Town, Magee has went from strength to strength under Smith’s tutelage.
The ex-Glentoran hotshot would hit seven league strikes to help send the Villagers back into the promised land, but few could have braced for just how quickly things have moved on for him since taking to the Premiership stage.
Magee’s total goal tally rose to six with that treble against Gary Boyle’s City, with Loughgall taking the big time like a duck to water having spent 16 years outside the top division.
He plays with a freedom of expression and a youthful exuberance; reflective of a collective set-up that has the shackles lifted off them.
Fearless in the face of opposition challenges, maybe that non-linear path offered a different dimension to some other highly-rated stars. In any case, it’s worked to Magee’s advantage.
Featured image from NIFL Social Media.
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