[6] He reached the semi-finals of Event 3 in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series, which included wins over experienced campaigners Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, before losing 0–4 to Ben Woollaston.

He beat David Grace, Yu Delu and Martin Gould to reach the venue in Beijing, where he defeated Heydari Nezhad Ehsan 5–3 in the wild-card round.

[11] The run helped him to 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals,[12] where he beat Milkins 4–2 before once again losing to Ding, this time by a 3–4 scoreline.

He reached the semi-finals of the Riga Open after beating Judd Trump 4–3, but lost in another final frame decider against Mark Allen.

[18] McGill eliminated both Michael Georgiou and Igor Figueiredo by 6–4 scorelines at the UK Championship and then came back from 4–1 down against Nigel Bond to triumph 6–5.

[citation needed] McGill then lost 6–4 to Ronnie O'Sullivan after being 2–0 ahead and admitted he had blown his opportunity to knock out the four-time UK champion after failing to capitalise on the many chances that came his way during the game.

[20] McGill finished 21st on the European Order of Merit to play in the Grand Final and overcame Peter Ebdon 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to Joe Perry.

[21] McGill finished the year by qualifying for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, after coming through three matches, ending with a 10–9 victory over Mark King which he closed with a 127 break.

[18] Compatriot Stephen Maguire levelled their first round match at 9–9 after having been 9–5 behind, but McGill once again made a century break in the deciding frame, this time a 122.

He exited in the second round of the UK Championship 6–4 to Luca Brecel and reached the last 32 stage of a ranking event for just the second time this season at the Welsh Open with wins over Liam Highfield and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but lost 4–2 to Neil Robertson.

[28] McGill overcame Hatem Yassen 10–1, Craig Steadman 10–9 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10–7 to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row.

[34] He was a seeded player in the World Championship for the first time, but from 2–2 with Stephen Maguire in the first round he conceded 447 points without reply and McGill went on to be defeated 10–2.