by Joe McHugh Paul Caddis was the unlikely goal hero as Celtic’s development squad drew 1-1 with Shamrock Rovers.
After a day of heavy rain mixed with flurries of snow a near capacity crowd filled the Tallaght Stadium to watch a keenly contested draw in the battle of the hoops.
The traditional hoops of Shamrock Rovers took the lead through an eighth minute penalty put away by Stephen Bradley but Caddis equalised for the bumblebees midway through the second half.
Mark Wilson and Caddis were the only players to have started a first team match in the Celtic side with Neil Lennon as ever putting together a mixture of players at various stages in their career.
Sean Fitzharris was given his first outing at this level playing as a striker alongside Paul McGowan while Jason Marr made a welcome return to defence.
“I had a young team, my remit is to look at the younger players and this was a great exercise and experience for them,” Neil Lennon said afterwards.
“It’s good for them to play in front of a crowd against a well organised, mature team.
“We went a goal down early but showed a lot of patience to come back into the match, maybe we should have gone on to win it. There’s a great desire about this group of players.”
Giant American Dominic Cervi was in goals for Celtic with Wilson and Danny Lafferty at full-back either side of Declan Gallagher and Marr.
Local favourite Richie Forrest was partnered in centre midfield by Anton Vallers with Caddis playing wide right and James Keatings on the opposite flank behind a front two of McGowan and Fitzharris.
It took Celtic longer to adapt to the conditions which saw play bogged down by some surface water in certain areas but the ball skipping through in others.
Gallagher was judged to have fouled Graham Barrett in the eighth minute with Bradley burying the penalty kick.
Celtic’s slick passing was finding difficulties in the tricky conditions but with two strikers under 5 ft 9 it would have been pointless to revert to the long ball.
Gradually Lennon’s side worked their way into the match with the understanding between Caddis and McGowan carving out a couple of chances.
Caddis put in a couple of inswinging free-kicks from the left hand side that had the home defence in bother but there were few clear cut chances for goalkeeper Alan Mannus to deal with.
At the start of the second half Caddis and Keatings switched wings as the game opened up with Caddis and McGowan causing the Rovers defence all sorts of bother.
Ten minutes into the second period Caddis forced a good save from Mannus after playing a 1-2 with Wilson with McGowan testing the keeper four minutes later with a 20 yard drive.
After 68 minutes Filip Twardzik, wearing blue! boots, replaced Fitzharris with Caddis moving forward to partner McGowan and the substitute filling in in left midfield.
That change paid dividends in the 70th minute when McGowan picked up the ball midway inside the Rovers half the instantly passed to Caddis. The Scotland u-21 skipper found Wilson overlapping down the right then created space for himself in the box to tuck his shot beyong Mannus from the return pass.
Twardzik struck the bar with seven minutes left to play as Celtic chased a winner against their tiring opponents but no-one was unhappy that the match finished level.
STARING TEAM: Cervi; Wilson, Marr, D Gallagher (Tolmie 82), Lafferty; Caddis, Towell, Vallers (Grant 82), Keatings ( G Gallagher 77)); Fitzharris (F Twardzik 68), McGowan
FINISHING TEAM Cervi; G Gallagher, Tolmie, Marr, Lafferty; Wilson, Towell, Grant, Twardzik; Caddis, McGowan
