Euan O’Reilly never found out what it feels like to score a winning goal for St Johnstone.
But scoring the winning goal against his boyhood team was a footballing dream come true.
The forward who used to collect pictures of McDiarmid Park heroes as a youngster before being signed by Saints was Stenhousemuir’s star man in the shock 1-0 weekend victory for the League Two side.
O’Reilly had no axe to grind after being released on the back of an injury-plagued couple of years with the Perth club.
However his Saints connections did add to the Viaplay Cup giant-killing emotions at Ochilview.
“My head just went mental, I was buzzing,” he said. “All my family were here, a few friends as well – some are Saints fans so it might be bitter-sweet for them.
“There are quite a lot of people still at St Johnstone from my time at the club.
“Liam Craig was a big influence on me. I had quite a few injuries so the senior players like him, Steven MacLean, Brian Easton, Steven Anderson were really good.
“They could see a young player feeling a bit down and helped keep you positive.
“Before that I was a fan. Growing up I went lots. I got my picture taken with Derek McInnes.
“I used to do Saturday morning training – the community stuff with Atholl Henderson.
“My fridge is still full of Danny Grainger, Jody Morris and Collin Samuel pictures! Nah, I ripped them all down as soon as I left the club!”
O’Reilly added: “I’m good mates with Ross Sinclair, so he will be gutted at the result. And Cammy Ballantyne is the same age as me. I’ll chat to them at some point.
“It was extra special being the winning goal. When I was taken off I was thinking: ‘Please hold on lads, please’.
“We got the game-plan down to a tee and we knew if we defended well enough, we could get them on the counter-attack.”
Full-time hopes
O’Reilly’s finish was superb from an acute angle and there was a direct run into the box, taking on two defenders, in the first half that also showcased the talent that had Tommy Wright predicting a possible first team breakthrough for the Auchterarder boy in the summer of 2017.
“That pre-season I was doing really well,” he recalled. “I came on in the Sunderland game when Spoony scored two.
When David Wotherspoon destroyed Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone 🔥#tbt@Spoony_10 pic.twitter.com/83BtYLgsnJ
— sjfcnews (@sjfcnews) September 5, 2019
“I thought I might have a chance of getting on the bench and playing a couple of times that season.
“I was in a few squads but by November I was 17-and-a-half and I felt I was done. It was my groins and my pubic symphysis.
“Eventually I went for cortisone injections and got an operation the club paid for.
“I was looked after well and I hadn’t played for two years when I was released. They couldn’t have given out a contract.
“I’m at university just now, studying business management. I was full-time for three years at St Johnstone and a year at Airdrie.
“I could have stayed full-time but I felt the age that I was, going back to uni would be a good idea.
“I’m half-way through that, with two years left. I’ve a contract for the next two seasons here as well.
“I’m 23, still young enough to go full-time again. I have ambitions to go League One, Championship, hopefully Premiership at some point as well.”
