Celtic youths

41

Excellent news about O’Dea. Seems to have an excellent attitude. Still delighted by how composed and unfazed he was playing in Milan. A super prospect. I’m including a little exchange from another forum I frequent. Folk were wondering if Stan had taken notice of the kid seeing as he never went up to watch Stokes in the SPL and this happened.

Lorrha:
‘He never came to see me either and ive been knockin em in the TSDL for years. Similar qualifications and still no Stan.’

Bandage:
‘Good one. Make fun of a lad who was a big part in shutting out Milan for 180 minutes.’

Lorrha:
‘Not making fun of your boyfriend, making fun of Stokes scoring record in a sh*t league. Great prospect but good Championship sides would hockey 10 SPL teams, probably beat Rangers and give Celtic a fair rattle. Lets see how he does in a proper league first.’

Bandage:
'Are you seriously proposing that O’Dea should leave Celtic and join a good Championship side??!!!

While O’Dea’s been marking Gilardino, Kaka and Inzaghi you think he should take the Sean St Ledger and Paul McShane path and test himself against Dougie Freedman, Robbie Blake and the likes to better himself!!!

I hope you’re not completely rat arsed in work again.’

I fooking despair sometimes.

42

Kid has a great attitude.

From the Celtic site:

Hard work pays off for O’Dea

DARREN ODEA spoke today of his delight at having signed a new contract with Celtic, but the young Irishman knows theres still plenty of hard work ahead as he looks to establish himself in the first-team.

ODea, who just turned 20 last month, put pen to paper on a new deal that will see him remain at Celtic until at least 2010, with the club having the option of another year.

Its a reward for some outstanding performances this season, most recently in the double-header against AC Milan.

ODeas display in the San Siro in particular, belied his youth and relative inexperience, and is hopefully a sign of great things to come. For the player, however, his feet remain firmly planted on the ground.

"Im absolutely delighted to have signed, said ODea, but Im not satisfied and I want to keep going now from here.

Its a reward for the hard work Ive done and hopefully I can push on now and get many more games for the club. Its nice that the club do value me in some way but I want to kick on now and push as hard as I can into the first-team.

Obviously, as a player you want to be playing but I know theres a lot of quality ahead of me and behind me so its just up to me to work as hard as I possibly can and hopefully it will work out.

ODeas targets for the remainder of the season and beyond are obvious a regular place in Gordon Strachans starting XI, and through his own hard work, along with the advice and example of the players alongside him, the Irishman believes this is a realistic target.

Playing in games such as AC Milan helps you a lot, he said. It can only help you grow as a player but I still have a lot more growing to do.

Mick (Stephen McManus) has played a lot of games now and youre learning from everyone because theyre all top quality players. Every day in training Im learning and I want to continue doing that.

To play in front of 60,000 every week, and obviously nights like last week at the San Siro, is superb.

Ive got a lot of friends here, I love life here and Ive no intention of moving anywhere else.

It was just an ambition to play football and its an honour to be at a club like this. I never really dreamed that Id be at a club the size of Celtic and Im just grateful for the chance Ive got and I intend to take it.

43

Mad the way papers twist things.

Was in the shop this morning and looked at the back of the Daily Record and it went, ‘Strachan wants O’Dea to be Celts David Weir’ and I thought ‘what the fook is Strachan after saying here.’

Just went to find the actual quotes on line there and Strachan said O’Dea’s progress is wonderful because he regards central defenders to be at their peak between the ages of 29 to 34, like Pressley at Celtic and Weir at Rangers.

44

rocko, you know in Scotland the way there’s the U-19 league and then the Reserve league, well I remember a few years back the Reserve league was primarily for U-21s and I think there was a rule that a certain percentage of players had to be U-21. Does that still apply? Don’t think it does but a lot of the Reserve bhoys are U-21 so not totally sure.

45

They did away with the U-21 restrictions on the reserve league last season. So there’s no longer any restriction there.

In the first team squad of 18 for matchdays there must be 3 Under 21 outfield players.

46

deiighted o’dea has signed. really looks to be a class act. i felt he was wrongly criticised a couple of months back for poor defensive performances. agree with bandage his attitude is first class (some of quotes remind me of roy keane. apologies raven.) a little concerned that strachan doesn’t seem to rate him highly. was disappointed he didn’t start on sunday and i can’t really understand what the reasons for it were.

47

Two Irish bhoys put us in the cup final:

Celts book place at Hampden
Gregor Kyle

Scottish Youth Cup Semi-Final
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen

ABERDEEN 1
(Neill 39)
CELTIC 2
(Sheridan 37, Cahillane 61)

CELTIC booked their place in the final of the Scottish Youth Cup with a well-earned 2-1 victory over a talented Aberdeen side at Pittodrie.

During the course of the 90 minutes there proved to be no repeat of last seasons 4-3 thriller between the two sides, which eventually propelled Celtic into the final and saw five goals in an incredible period of extra-time.

But this was instead a mature and confident performance from a side who controlled the match and took their opportunities, with Cillian Sheridan and Paul Cahillane both getting on the scoresheet.

This was, however, a considerably less experienced Celtic side who ran out at Pittodrie, with just three players in the starting XI who played a part in last years memorable semi-final.

Two of that number, goalkeeper Paul Skinner and midfielder Mark Millar, appeared as substitutes in that game, while Paul Caddis, who was returning to Aberdeen as youth team captain, was to prove to be particularly influential in the opening stages of the match.

While dropping deep and sweeping up behind the back four with all his usual efficiency, the right-back was also a threat in attack and two driving sprints to the byline saw him provide cut-backs which set-up good opportunities in the opening ten minutes.

Chances also fell for Paul Cahillane and Cillian Sheridan, who thumped one effort over the crossbar, but when the Irish front-pairing were given their next opportunity they took full advantage and opened the scoring.

It was Cahillane who did the ground-work on the right to set up the chance, shaking off the attentions of full-back Kenny Haswell and driving the ball across goal where it found the head of Sheridan.

Having muscled in in-front of his marker, the Irishman directed his header down perfectly, beyond the fingertips of the keeper Fraser Stewart and into the bottom right-hand corner.

Aberdeen had meanwhile largely been reduced to looking for openings on the counter-attack, but having worked hard to take the lead, Celtic conceded a leveller just two minutes later.

The cup holders were in some respects the architects of their own downfall, dwelling on the ball across the back four and inviting Brian Neill to close them down.

But when the Aberdeen midfielder did eventually dispossess Jason Marr, he looked to have fouled the defender in the process. But with the referee having waved play on, Neill simply slotted the ball past Paul Skinner and into the far corner of the goal.

The score remained all square until the interval and the second half restarted in a similar vein to the first, with Celtic forcing most of the early chances and Ross Hepburn thumping one shot marginally over the crossbar.

Celtics front-pairing were also causing problems for the Aberdeen back four and they were soon completely demoralised by their next move, on the hour mark, which saw Cahillane grab their second.

The diminutive Irish striker showed great perseverance to put the Aberdeen defence under pressure and did very well to keep his feet under the weight of one challenge and then stab the ball past the goalkeeper from around eight yards out.

The home side never really recovered from this set-back in the remaining stages of the game and aside from one long-range effort from Andrew Bagshaw, there was little to concern Skinner in the Celtic goal.

Meanwhile Cillian Sheridan, Mark Millar and Kevin Cawley all came close for Celtic, with Cawley a constant thorn in Aberdeens side with his relentless running and industry.

In the closing stages of this match Celtic continued to assert their authority and as the clock ticked down it was clear that there would be no dramatic finish in this seasons semi-final.

With this mature and confident performance Celtic have booked their place in the Hampden Youth Cup Final and for this young team, a dream double is still very much on the cards.

WEBSITE MAN OF THE MATCH: Kevin Cawley

ABERDEEN (4-4-2) Stewart; McVitie, Strachan, Thomas, Haswell (Skinner 65); Paton, Neill, Bagshaw, Smith; Maguire, Kiely.
Subs: Gibson, Lamberty, Jones, Petrie.
CELTIC (4-4-2) Skinner; Caddis, Marr, Anderson, Lafferty; Cawley, Millar, Hepburn, Carey; Sheridan, Cahillane.
Subs: Barron, Travis, Livingstone, Monti, Graham.

48

Celtic youths won handy today but the huns came back from 3-1 down to draw 3 all which means they’re on top on goal difference (3 points) with 1 game left to play.

49

Do you mean 3 goals rather than 3 points? They fooked up losing at home to Hearts last week and they lost the last derby match 3-2 also. Haven’t been as good since Willie McStay moved up to the reserves and the guy John McLaughlan took over. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh as they’ve been without Sheridan for a lot of these games due to reserves and first team commitments. Do you know what the final day fixtures are?

50

Do you mean 3 goals rather than 3 points? They fooked up losing at home to Hearts last week and they lost the last derby match 3-2 also. Haven’t been as good since Willie McStay moved up to the reserves and the guy John McLaughlan took over. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh as they’ve been without Sheridan for a lot of these games due to reserves and first team commitments. Do you know what the final day fixtures are?

Sorry that should be 3 goals.

I think the huns are at home to Hibs and we’re home to Falkirk. Not 100% sure though - can’t see it in work but probably on this page:

www.scotprem.premiumtv.co.uk/page/U19/0,,10002,00.html

51

Huns are indeed at home to Hibs, who are 3rd in the table, and it doesn’t have the final Celtic fixture up on that site yet but presume you read Falkirk, who are 4th, somewhere else?

52

I know we had a game at home to Falkirk postponed about a month back so I’m guessing that’s what left for us.

53

Just read that the huns got 2 penalties in the last 5 minutes to make it 3-3. Hunbelievable.

We won 4-1 I think and it is Falkirk next.

54

Match Report of the Huns game from www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk

U19s DRAW WITH RANGERS
20 April 2007
United took the lead in only 5 minutes through an own goal, before the outstanding Johnny Russel scored twice to put them 3-0 up after 57 minutes.

Up to that point Rangers, challenging for the league title, had hardly threatened all afternoon.

Lennon clawed one back in 67 minutes and United’s lead was reduced to 3-2 when Rangers were awarded a soft penalty three minutes from the end.

A home victory looked certain until the referee awarded a second and hotly disputed penalty right at the end of regulation time.

In added time, United had a shot blocked on the line to deny them all three points.

55

Hunbelievable indeed.

Was it in 2003 when Celtic ended up losing the league by one goal that the linesman gave them an injury time pen at Hearts? One of the Hearts players got banned for running over and doing a Di Canio to the lino I think. They also got 2 pens at Dundee in the last 5 mins that season if I recall correctly.

56

The Hearts penalty was 2005 I think but the Dundee one was 2003. Lee Wilkie decided the throw the Dundee game, but it was linesman Andy Davies who gave them the result against Hearts.

57

Celtic have set up a feeder club agreement with KV Oostende in the Belgian Second Division.

First outcome is that Diarmuid O’Carroll has gone there on loan for the whole season and he is expected to play in every game.

Seems that the agreement involves us sending 3 players on loan for the season with the guarantee (I think) that they’ll play all first team games. It will certainly be useful experience for O’Carroll who was quite promising 2 seasons ago but suffered a bit last year by playing as a centre half for a while when the reserves had an injury crisis.

I’d imagine Belgium’s more liberal work permit laws will also be a factor - that’s why Manchester United and Arsenal have used Antwerp and Beveren as feeder clubs. That should allow us bring in more non-EU players through Oostende and might explain our current interest in the 3 Trinidad and Tobago internationalists.

Post edited by: therock67, at: 2007/08/17 09:45

58

Decent win for the youths. Good to see the new bhoys getting on the scoresheet.

Celtic under-19s win 19-0 in italy

Gregor Kyle
THE Under-19s have racked up an incredible 19-0 victory over Italian side Cambiano in their opening game in the Turin International Youth Tournament.

Celtic overwhelmed their Italian opponents in last nights match (September 5), producing an outstanding performance that was broadcast live on Italian television.

Forwards Kevin Cawley and Paul Cahillane both got five goals apiece in the victory, with midfielder Mark Millar scoring two.

New Italian signing Luca Santonocito, left-back Carlo Monti, midfielder Michael Tidser, Bulgarian playmaker Tomislav Pavlov, Graham Carey, Paul Caddis and Richie Towell were also on the scoresheet.

John McLaughlans Bhoys will now look forward to todays meeting with Japanese side Jef United, who lost their opening game against Italians Reggina.

Aside from the inclusion of Paul Caddis, Mark Millar and Charlie Grant, who is making his comeback from long-term injury, it is a effectively an Under-18 Celtic team that is competing in this Under-20 tournament.

Celtics final group game against Reggina will be played on Friday September 7, after which the top two teams from each section will meet in the knockout rounds. Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Santos, Torino and Anderlecht are among the other clubs competing.

59

Mick Wallace sends a young Wexford side over to play in that tournament every year also. They must have fooked up with the groupings as what good is a 19-0 victory going to do for anyone (other than the strikers enjoying themselves I suppose)?

60

Good win for the young reserves today: 7-1 against ICT. Charlie Grant made his return from a long injury and Killen got a couple of goals.

I’ll endeavour to get the goals up here tomorrow evening.

Looks like Killen and Jarosik won’t be playing tomorrow anyway and I suppose Ferry and Bjarnasson were never likely to given their injuries. We didn’t play a reserve game in a month nearly so that’s reduced our chances of getting fringe players a game tomorrow.

I wonder would Boruc have been rested if he hadn’t made the two blunders on Sunday. Not going to happen now.

reserves run riot against caley thistle
David Friel
CHARLIE GRANT made a long-awaited return to competitive football and Chris Killen scored his first Celtic goals as the reserves put a magnificent seven past Caley Thistle.

Highly-rated 20-year-old Grant, out since the start of last season through injury, played for 65 minutes and looked right at home in the centre of midfield.

Killen, meanwhile, continued his return to full fitness with 90 minutes which featured two brilliant finishes and some impressive link-up play. The former Hibs striker cancelled out Richie Harts first-half opener, before Jim OBrien grabbed a quickfire double to put Celtic 3-1 up.

Darren ODea made it four, before Jiri Jarosik grabbed a fifth for the Hoops in a ruthless second-half display. Killen hit No.6 before Paul McGowan rounded off the scoring with a sublime chip.

Jarosik had Celtics first shot on goal in the opening minute. Grant, displaying all of his battling qualities, won possession and the Czech midfielder sent a fierce left-foot drive past the post.

McGowan was then denied from point-blank range in the fifth minute. Taking Jarosiks threaded pass, the striker played a one-two with Killen and fired goalwards, but Andy McNulty to parry his volley to safety.

It was all Celtic, yet the Hoops were stunned when Caley were awarded a penalty for handball in nine minutes. Only referee Stevie OBrien knew who had committed the foul, but Hart wasnt bothering as he slotted home without fuss from 12 yards.

McNulty somehow denied Jarosik from six yards as Celtic stormed back. OBrien and Paul McGowan were next to try their luck as the Hoops laid siege to the Caley goal.

However, the visitors were always a threat as they showed when Hart sent Shane Sutherland through on goal. Only a brave Mark Brown save stopped Celtic going two goals behind.

Willie McStays men were knocking the ball about impressively, with wide men OBrien and Teddy Bjarnason also returning from injury doing well. The duo combined in 31 minutes, with OBrien cross for his Icelandic team-mate. However, Steven Watt blocked Bjarnasons attempt and Paul McGowan headed over the resultant corner.

Grant had a shot charged down as Celtic continued to press for an equaliser, while McGowan and Killen also went close before the break. The New Zealand striker tested McNulty in the first minute of the second period, before firing home his first goal in Celtic colours 30 seconds later.

Taking ODeas raking pass, he shrugged off Caley defender Guy Kerr and lashed an emphatic shot high into the net.

Unbelievably, after battering Caley for the entire first half without scoring, Celtic then moved into the lead with a second goal in two minutes. Bjarnason and Conroy combined to create space on the left flank and the full-backs whipped cross was met by OBrien, who guided a diving header into the corner.

Caley were now on the ropes, while Celtic were rampant. McGowan was released on the right wing and fed Bjarnason. The midfielder bamboozled two Caley defenders, but McNulty again saved well.

In 57 minutes it was 3-1. OBrien, taking Killens lay-off 40 yards from goal, ran straight at the Caley defence and waltzed in to the box before finishing clinically for a stunning solo strike.

Some two minutes later, ODea got in on the act. The outstanding OBrien was fouled and Conroys free-kick was headed home by the Irish defender.

Jarosik then got the goal he deserved after another incisive move from Celtic. This time, Caddis and OBrien linked up and the Czech midfielder nodded the wingers superb centre past McNulty.

Michael McGlinchey had replaced Grant and he was involved in the sixth goal releasing Killen for a fine strike.

Celtic still weren’t finished though. McGowan, who looked lively throughout, took a pass on the edge of the box and lifted the most delicate of chips over the head of the helpless Caley goalkeeper for a superb seventh.

CELTIC7
(Killen 47, 77, OBrien 49, 57, ODea 59, Jarosik 64, McGowan 89)
INVERNESS CT1
(Hart 9)

CELTIC (4-4-2) M.Brown; Caddis, Cuthbert, ODea, Conroy; OBrien (Millar 70), Grant (McGlinchey 65), Jarosik, Bjarnason; McGowan, Killen
Subs not used: McGovern, Marr, Gaughan, Cahillane, Cawley

INVERNESS CT(3-5-2) McNulty; Inglis, MacDonald, Watt (Woodhouse 31), Kerr; Rennie, Leslie, Gillespie, Hart; Vigurs, Sutherland
Subs not used: Penwright, Ward, Morrison, Park, Cromar