NEIL LENNON spoke about the friendly match at Celtic Park on Saturday in Paris on Tuesday night after the 4-0 defeat to PSG. The travelling Celtic support had a few problems ahead of that match at the Parc des Princes, which incidentally the French supporters were entirely unaware of until yesterday when The Celtic Star was able to provide PSG Talk with all the details of what had gone on pre-match.
The Celtic manager, speaking to Gerry McCulloch, mentioned looking forward to the game at Celtic Park on Saturday but at that time it seemed that he’d maybe just jumped the gun a little as the game hadn’t been formally announced.
It was of course widely rumoured that the opposition would be Dundalk – who Celtic faced in a European Cup tie in 1979, winning 3-2 at Celtic Park before drawing 0-0 in Ireland, where a single goal conceded could have eliminated the side that had won the league with Ten Men in that never to be forgotten match on a Monday night in May when Celtic beat Rangers 4-2. That 3-2 aggregate win over Dundalk set Celtic up for a Quarter Final crack at Real Madrid and the 2-0 home leg victory was another awesome experience for the Celtic support at that time – and the size of the crowd inside the old Celtic Park that night was rather incredible.
Anyway yesterday we told you that Celtic were waiting on the green light from the Irish Government to allow Dundalk to travel to Scotland without the need for 14 days quarantine on their return. That would have prevented Dundalk playing their opening fixtures in the Irish league.
Celtic fans in Ireland, I think this might be Dundalk's ground? Talk of Celtic organising a match with them soon. They gave Celtic a tough fight in Europe in 1979-80 season. pic.twitter.com/kMUVdzqeDG
— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog09) July 23, 2020
As what seemed like a viable alternative – inviting Derry City to stand in with former Celtic Paddy McCourt back at his home club these days and eager to assist his old pal Lenny – it looked like Celtic had options but were leaving things rather last minute (understandable given the pandemic).
Derry City of course is located in the six counties, known collectively as Northern Ireland, as as such are not under Dublin’s direct jurisdiction when it comes to the quarantine situation. So it seemed that as Derry City could follow UK rules rather than Irish ones, then they’d be fine to travel.
However and this is the sting in the tail, Paddy McCourt’s side play their football in the Irish league and not in North Ireland and therefore they’d be prevented by the Irish FA, on instruction from the Irish Government, from playing their opening league games on 3 August in Dublin against St Pats, if they travelled to Scotland.
It was possibly hoped that Ireland would recognise Scotland as a country in its own right dealing better than the other UK countries, especially England, in dampening down the pandemic. But yesterday’s decision from Dublin to exclude the UK as a whole from their quarantine free list of countries that their citizens can travel to, has effectively closed down Celtic’s attempts to have Irish opposition at Celtic Park on Saturday.
This was the game where Celtic were going to trial the new virtual season ticket pass and iron out any issues ahead of the really important match against Hamilton at Celtic Park on 2 August. Celtic’s CEO Peter Lawwell was also working to provide the Scottish Government with a trial match on Saturday with around 1000 supporters being invited to attend allowing the club to demonstrate to the Scottish Government how the news safety measures would be put in place. That too seems to be frustrated.
It looks like Neil Lennon’s could be playing Motherwell – who lost 4-0 at Ibrox last night in a game in which Defoe done his hamstring in the last few minutes – but we’ll await an official announcement from the club on this one. It certainly would be a great opportunity for young David Turnbull to show Celtic manager Neil Lennon that he’s match fit again after his operation last summer.
