In their 10th league match of the 1979/80 season, Celtic were quite surprisingly beaten 1-0 by Morton at Cappielow. However, that defeat still left the Hoops top of the table, six points ahead of Rangers.
One week later, on this day in 1979, the two old rivals met at Celtic Park, when the teams were –
Celtic ……..Latchford, Sneddon, Aitken, McDonald, McGrain, Sullivan, MacLeod, Burns, Provan, McCluskey, Macadam.
Rangers….McCloy, Stevens, Jardine, Johnstone, Forsyth, Miller, Mclean, McDonald, Watson, Urquart, Cooper.
Manager Billy McNeill had brought Dom Sullivan into the club only the previous day and the new midfield star rose to the occasion, linking well with his new teammates. For the crowd in general, though, 56,000 of them, it was a typical Glasgow Derby contest, where toil and sweat were the main aspects rather than flair and skill.
The goal which decided the contest came in 76 minutes. A corner by Davie Provan on the right was slung way across the face of the Rangers goal and big Roddie MacDonald was there to head the ball back across Peter McCloy into the corner of the net.
Born sometime in 1870, goalkeeper Joseph Cullen joined Celtic from Benburb juniors on 1 January 1892 and made his first-team debut later that month against Cowlairs in the Scottish Cup. For the next five years, Joe made 73 appearances for the club, with 20 shut-outs (27%) before moving on to Tottenham Hotspur.
On this day in 1905, Joe Cullen died from pneumonia and was buried at St Kentigern’s Cemetery in Lambhill.
Jim Craig
