TEAM IRVINE racked up the Air Miles to see former Celt Jackson lift the League Cup on Sunday as Ross County beat Hibs 2-1 at Hampden.
There were plenty of Celtic connections on show with Irvine joined by Marcus Fraser and Michael Gardyne while Hibs included Anthony Stokes, Liam Henderson and James Keatings.
Irvine set up the opener for Gardyne with his purposeful midfield display playing a key role in County’s victory with the Man of the Match award picked up as a bonus.
Six years after leaving Melbourne for Glasgow Jackson was re-united with his parents and sister who flew in to see their bhoy add to his collection of SFA Youth Cup winners medals.
“My mum, dad and sister (Danielle, Steve and Maxi) came over from Australia,” the midfielder admitted. “I had aunties, uncles, cousins, friends and family friends there too.
“I had 22 people at Hampden, and just to be able to share that with them is fantastic.
“My mum, dad and sister came all the way from Melbourne and flew back today, so I’m glad I’ve not sent them home disappointed.
“I made them come. My dad’s 60 next week, and it was his present to him to be here for the game. If he hadn’t been here, I don’t know what he’d have done.”
Big thank you to @adidasAU for these yesterday. Meant a lot for my family and my grandad in particular. pic.twitter.com/s1akwdaai4
— Jackson Irvine (@jirvine36) March 14, 2016
Travelling halfway round the world is nothing new for Jackson’s parents, in 2011 his mum flew over for the Next Gen match away to Barcelona only to see her son dislocate his shoulder at St Johnstone and miss out on the main match.
A few months earlier his dad Steve had made the same journey- catching Jackson by surprise during a youth match away to Aberdeen.
Interviewed by Video Celts after playing against Barca at Celtic Park Irvine said: “I came out of the dressing room (at Aberdeen) at half time and saw him on the sideline. I was shocked, absolutely shocked! He flew over to surprise me for the Barcelona game and it’s great having him here for a week.
“He’ll be at the game with Dundee United on Saturday, my parents have supported me all the way and I’m glad my dad was able to see me playing in the biggest game of my career so far.
“He used to play in the same team as Scott McDonald’s dad and I loved watching Scott when he was at Celtic.”
