At 9.20pm last night a dream came true for Kieran Tierney as he replaced Emilio Izaguirre to make his Celtic debut.
The 17-year-old is comfortable playing anywhere along the left and combines his powerful running with a deadly delivery into the penalty box.
After being listed as a substitute in recent weeks Ronny Deila’s gave Tierney his first taste of top team football and has high hopes for the kid who has been in the Celtic Academy set up for 10 years.
“He is a big talent,” the Celtic boss said. “He is a boy who works really hard and has a lot of skill. He also has the attitude to become a good player, it was nice to give him his debut.”
Despite making his debut last night this season has hardly been plain sailing for Tierney.
Twenty four hours after making the top team bench for the first time at Tannandice in December he suffered the misery of breaking his ankle in training.
In August he had put down his first marker towards the first team when he appeared in the pre-season friendly against Spurs although a 6-1 defeat in Helsinki was one that most fans would rather forget.
Thanks for all the messages!! Delighted to have made my debut, dream come true????
— Kieran Tierney (@kierantierney1) April 22, 2015
As the new season got underway Tierney found himself playing in the left midfield role in Celtic’s Development side making full use of his pace and attacking instincts.
At the end of October his name was again surfacing as he scored an incredible goal against Hearts in the Development League.
While any goal from the edge of your own penalty box carries an element of luck the way that he struck through the ball, sending it high into the night air at Cappielow, demonstrated a sure touch as he caught the ball perfectly to take it goalwards leaving the Hearts keeper helpless as it raced into the net.
