McGuinness arrived at Portman Road in September on a season-long loan from Arsenal and made his League One debut for the Tractor Boys against Gillingham last week.
The 19-year-old had his second league start on Saturday when Ipswich hosted Crewe Alexandra and Ward, who shared the pitch with the teenager, is impressed by how the centre-back has kicked on since landing in Suffolk.
Ward lauded the Arsenal academy starlet’s hunger to learn the tricks of his trade by putting in the hard yards on the training pitch to earn more game time.
McGuinness helped Ipswich to register back-to-back clean sheets at home in his first two league games since arriving at Portman Road and Ward heaped praise on the teenager for delivering solid performances that belied his age.
“Mark has been great and he’s a really good young pro who is willing to learn and has a great appetite for the game”, Ward was quoted as saying by twtd.co.uk.
“He’s come in from Arsenal and he wants to learn and play football.
“He is looking to grow as a player and he has done really well in his first two games for us.
“It’s been a great start for him and we’re happy for him.”
Ipswich are on the road again in League One with a trip to the Stadium of Light on Tuesday to take on Sunderland and McGuiness will hope to earn his boss Paul Lambert’s trust for another starting role.
