Celtic’s u-19 side eased into the last 16 of the SFA Youth Cup with a convincing 5-0 win over Kilmarnock.
Two early goals from Paul George and Callum McGregor set the tone for the match with a double from Jackson Irvine and a late strike from John Herron completing the scoring.
The main talking point afterwards was over who scored the third goal. Darnell Fisher did seem to have an involvement in it, mainly upsetting the Kilmarnock defenders, but from my vantage point behind a fence it seemed that Irvine’s header went into the goal unassisted.
Fisher replacing the injured Stuart Findlay in the only change from the team that beat Manchester City 2-1 on Monday night. With his physical presence in the middle of the park, Darnell loves a 40-60, Celtic had the presence to cope with the tough tackling of their opponents.
The early goals, coming on the back of Celtic’s recent 5-1 win at Kilmarnock, killed the tie stone dead with a comeback for the visitors never likely.
Although it took Celtic half an hour to score the third goal the result was never in doubt with the five man midfield again the most impressive aspect of the performance.
With full-back’s Mikey Miller and Joe Chalmers also pushing up at every opportunity the movement of the midfield five in support of Tony Watt must be a constant headache for opponents.
It took Celtic just two minutes to find the net with George smashing a right foot drive high into the net after evading a few challenges as he cut across the edge of the penalty box.
It was one way traffic towards the Kilmarnock goal and no surprise when Celtic doubled their lead in the ninth minute. Dylan McGeough created the opening for McGregor who sidestepped one challenge then placed a low left foot shot beyond the Kilmarnock keeper from 20 yards out.
Irvine continued on the ‘near miss’ run that he’s suffered from in the last two matches with two headers from corners sailing over the bar but wasn’t to be denied or put off by bad luck.
The Australian-Scot headed a 41st minute corner from McGeough downwards and over the keeper into the net, with Fisher, typically in the thick of the action, claiming the goal as his.
The main objective of the second half looked to be avoiding serious injury with George and Herron coming in for some agricultural challenges.
McGeough and McGregor came close to scoring midway through the second half before Irvine found the net with a strike that no one was disputing. McGregor tapped a short free-kick into the path of his captain who barely looked up before sending an unstoppable shot into the net from 30 yards out.
With time running out Herron notched his sixth goal of the season picking up on a short pass back, evading one challenge then finding the net from 10 yards out.
In other results Hibs beat Hearts yesterday with Dundee United beating Rangers 3-1 after extra-time at Ibrox today.
SCORERS: George, McGregor, Irvine 2, Herron
CELTIC; Thomson, Miller, Fraser, Irvine, Chalmers; Herron, McGeough (Kidd), Fisher, McGregor, George (P Twardzik); Watt (Atajic) SUBS Fazan, Bogle
THIS SEASON’S SCORERS: Watt 8, Herron 6, George 5, F Twardzik 4, P Twardzik 3, Williamson 2, Bogle 2, Irvine 2, McGregor2, McGeough 2, Atajic 1, Gormley 1, OG 1
any highlights?