The Celtic side which took to the field at Parkhead on this day in 1928 to face Dunfermline in a league match had one unusual name in the left-half position.
Instead of the regular John McFarlane in that role, manager Willie Maley had brought in Frank Doyle, who had been at Celtic Park for a couple of seasons.
It was a good afternoon for Celtic, as they won 9-0 and a wonderful one for Jimmy McGrory, who scored eight of them.
In the first minute, he flicked in a cross from a Paddy Connelly cross from the right; in six minutes, he shot home from 20 yards for number two; in 9 minutes, another Connelly cross and this time a McGrory header for number three; in 21 minutes, a fierce shot from the Celtic centre-forward made it 4 and right on the half-time whistle, Bertie Thomson waltzed through to make it 5.
In 58 minutes, an Adam Mclean cross from the left was knocked in by you-know-who for number 6; number 7 arrived three minutes later; and only seconds after that, a solo run by McGrory was finished off in fine style as he scored his eighth, and Celtic ‘s 9th, with only three minutes left.
It would have been an auspicious afternoon to be at Celtic Park but against a team locked into bottom spot in the table and with a Depression beginning to unfold, only 3,000 were present.
Many Happy Returns to midfielder Joe Thomson – born on this day in 1997 – who made a single appearance for Celtic against Dundee Utd on 22 August 2015 before moving on to Dunfermline in 2018.
Jim Craig
