Michael O’Halloran has revealed that a few choice words at half-time turned his side into winners against Estadiantes at the Al Kass International Cup in Qatar.
Celtic’s u-17 side lost their opening match 3-1 to Redbull Salzburg and were way behind the Argentinians despite only trailing 1-0 at the interval.
Estudiantes had managed eight efforts on goal during the first 45 minutes while their goalkeeper remained untested.
Just before the break the Argentinians could have gone 2-0 up but with the ball rolling into the net one of their strikers poked the ball home with the linesman raising his flag for offside.
“Some of the things I couldn’t mention in public,” O’Halloran told Al Kass TV when asked about his half-time ‘pep’ talk. “However I gave them a bit of a rattle, a push, told them that they were a far better team than they had showed in the first half.
“I told them to get closer to their opponents, don’t allow them to play out from the back and it worked for us. It was a great sign of character and personality from the players to turn it around.
“The first game against Redbull was very disappointing, we didn’t get anywhere near our usual standards but we turned that round against Estudiantes.
“We sat off them too much in the first half but showed the real character and personality that I know the players have.”
Full time : @celticfc U17 (2-1) @EdelpOficial U17
Man of the match : MCINROY#AlKassU17 pic.twitter.com/yEj3k2abJh— ALKASS Intl Cup (@ALKASSIntlCup) February 7, 2016
Midway through the second half Celtic were back on level terms after the Estudiantes keeper parried a Michael Johnston header into the path of Keiran Campbell who didn’t think twice before driving the ball into the net.
Shortly afterwards a great passing move ended with Kerr McInroy slamming a low 15 yards shot past the keeper to put Celtic in front.
Estudiantes and Salzburg play in the final group match tomorrow with a win or draw for the Austrians ensuring Celtic a place in the last eight.
If Estudiantes win the group will go down to goal difference but O’Halloran will set his squad up over the next couple of days for a quarter-final tie on Thursday.
“We will prepare as if we have progressed into the next round,” the Celtic coach explained. “We will see on Tuesday how the other two sides get on and that will determine where we finish.
“We will prepare for the next round and if that happens we’ll be ready for it.”
