Niall McGinn has found his comfort zone at Aberdeen and, in turn, cemented his place a Northern Ireland side which has produced several above-par performances under manager Michael O'Neill.

The attacking midfielder, whose career was rescued by the Dons when Celtic discarded him almost three years after he'd spend a season on loan with Brentford, and he thanked them in his opening season, in which he was deployed as a striker, by netting 21 goals.

The 27-year-old from Dungannon, County Tyrone, is excited about facing Scotland at Hampden next Wednesday, but it is the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Finland four days later followed by the June clash with Romania, Group F leaders that has him salivating.

McGinn has become a key member of McNeill's impressive outfit, who won their opening three qualifiers before the Bucharest defeat by Romania, and sit second in the group, a point behind them.

The Finns sit fourth in the group and five points behind Northern Ireland after winning just one of their four qualifiers.

For McGinn, the thrill of featuring at a packed Hampden against Gordon Strachan's Scots is, in the meantime, an invigorating thought.

"It is a game for Scotland and ourselves to look forward to out with the qualifiers coming up," he said.

"It is always good to play one of the home nations and it would be great to play at Hampden again.

"It is a game I am looking forward to, personally and it will also be a good warm-up for the Finland game because we just want to keep the momentum going."

McGinn's form for the Dons this season has helped them continue their challenge to Celtic at the top of the Premiership with his creativity from wide positions an important factor for his manager, Derek McInnes, a skill he strives to produce for his country.

"It is just great to be part of the Northern Ireland squad," he said.

"We have started the campaign very well. If you are looking at the table now then you would say the next two games are the most important ones; home games against Finland and Romania and if we need points then we will need to take them then.

"If we were to get maximum points from them then that would be unbelievable and would set us up nicely for the rest of the group. It would be unbelievably if we could qualify for the Championships.

"We have a great team spirit and all the guys get on really well.

"We are a small country and we don't have a massive population to choose from.

"We have a few guys playing in the Premiers League in England and in the Championship and if you have 11 players pushing in the one direction then anything can happen.

"I think on our night in front of a full Windor Park we would probably beat most teams."