Neil Lennon was delighted to guide Celtic to a 3-0 win over Cliftonville as he returned home to Ireland.
There was a carnival atmosphere inside Solitude as supporters sat shoulder to shoulder enjoying the early evening sunshine after a carnival day in parts of the city.
First half goals from Mikael Lustig and Georgios Samaras put the tie beyond the home side before James Forrest completed the scoring with a late solo effort.
Celtic will find out their likely third round opponents in Friday’s draw in Switzerland with Lennon thrilled by the display that his team put on in front of his ain folk.
“The game meant a lot to me,” the Celtic boss admitted. “I brought my team back home, I remember as a young boy that the opportunity to see Celtic live was very rare.
“It was a special occasion and I wanted it to be right. I couldn’t have asked anything more from the night- both sets of supporters were brillint- even the weather has been good to us this week!
“If the result hadn’t gone as I’d wanted I would have been getting a bit of stick from people but the team came over, played very well and hopefully the next generation of Celtic supporters here will have gone home very happy.”
Celtic were without half a dozen players tonight with Lennon hopeful that the bulk of them will be available for Tuesday’s return match against Cliftonville.
The hoops head to London on Saturday to face Brentford with the future destination of Gary Hooper likely to be settled with QPR edging closer to a deal for the striker.
Comfortable dÃsplay ,very happy .Safe trip home Bhoys n Ghirls
We got lucky tonight the preseason proved we’re not up to it because its preseason that counts not the champions league raging about Germany Lennon out HH
The above was for the non believers, when it matters the real Celtic show up preseason mean nothing tonight proved it HH
“Non believers”….??…
Do me a favour Mark….
Tonight we played a team of part-timers ….
In Germany we played much classier opposition….and if preseason means nothing….
Why do we play 4 games in 10 days…and lose half the team to injury….??
What’s the feckin’ point in that…?
We were rubbish in Germany….fact…we lost players to injury in meaningless games…fact…
Delighted we won tonight….but not kidded for a minute….
This non-believer is now off to his kip…
Goodnight…
Guys on here and other forums were saying preseason matters and we would struggle against cliftonville well we never and preseason is about fitness nothing else so what if we got beat in Germany who cares, when it mattered we won and that is a fact HH
A non-believer and a Zombie are just some of the immature and infantile names you get called on here when you hold an opinion that is foreign to some of the posters on here Mike.
Personally I go with Steins thinking that playing pub teams and racking up massive scores done more for confidence in preseason than you could buy plus get as many games as possible crammed in against such opposition which built up the stamina levels.I cant see playing teams like fc cluj at this time of the pre-season as wise as the injury list shows.
In my opinion the manager is again failing to address the glaring problem of the need for a midfielder of The class of Lubo. We are crying out for a player of guile and craft.
When was the last time any Celtic supporter was called a ‘zombie’ on this site Yogi? Let’ not start making sh1t up.
Someone might have said it once, but I guess that would even up for supporters being called dishonest or brainwashed for trying to stick up for the team or Neil Lennon.
Mark’s got every right to rub it in to the nay-sayers we’ve had to read on here for the past few weeks.
Just about every aspect of the club has had it tight for weeks now, Lenny, his coaching staff, the support, the scouting set up, PL and the board….EVERYONE!
But some of us kept the faith and had confidence that the pre-season friendlies were just that, games set up for fitness levels and to allow Lenny the opportunity to take stock and that we would come good in our first compeative match of the season…..and guess what?
Mark, amongst others, was bang on, and the ‘non-believers’, as in those who did not believe we would come good, were wrong and wrong big style. Mark has the bragging rights here.
I think it’s yourself Yogi who is being a bit ‘immature and infantile’ not to mention churlish in your attitude to a decent result and performance from the Bhoys last night.
As for Lenny ‘failing to address the GLARING problem of the need for a midfielder of the class of Lubo’, lol!
I can only assume you noticed the gap in the team left by the player we just received 12 and a half millionsquid for THREE DAYS AGO.
And who says he’s not addressing it, although I’m sure most Celtic supporters would agree a player ‘of the class of Lubo’ might be a big ask.
Sorry Yogi, but it all smacks of the never happy, always find something to complain about bs.
HH
Sweeney,If someone has an opinion then he Is entitled to say it and on a regular basis the word Zombie and various other immature remarks were made in response to anyone who raised points they werent happy about regarding our team.Is that not what the forum is about.Istand by my opinion that there are some Infantile posters on here but that is my view and you are entitled to disagree without being personal. I never mentioned once that I was dissappointed in last nights result so dont put words in my mouth for effect.I made an opinion abiut our overall straegy regarding pre season prep.and If you dont mind I will agree with Jock steins take on things rather than yours .So refrain from the Bullshit remark If you want any respect from me.Wanyama,If I am allowed an opinion ,Is an offensive midfeilder not someone of the Guile of Moravcik ,who is much more of a need for us at this time. You of course will say I am never happy and moaning and making S…up,I think the facts are worth being highlighted and Discussed and they are Facts, not labelling Guys as non-believers and such because they see things different from yourself.It would appear you dont sit well with that which is unfortunate if you are taking part in forum,but less of the Personal stuff Sweeney You do yourself no favours when you engage in that .Yours In Celtic.
Sorry Yogi but that cuts both ways.
Posters on this site get abused for posting anything positive about Lenny, the team, the board …etc..
I have not gotten personal with anyone, but it seems now that if you support the team and comment on your confidence in them you get pelters..
This site, amongst others, was full of people who had no confidence in Lenny and the team, that did not ‘believe’ that we would come good for last nights game, Mark had belief in Lenny and the Bhoys and was proven to be correct. Now it seems he is not allowed to say he was right.
I’m putting words into no-ones mouth, but you seem to think it’s ok to give Mark pelters, for what?
Being proven to be correct?
It seems to me you’re the one spitting the dummy out and throwing personal comments about.
And you that seems to think no-one should be allowed to disagree with your opinions.
Jock Stein said a lot of things about a lot of things, but I think you’ll find the world’s moved on a bit in the last 30 years, but the fact still remains, the German friendlies were just what Mark ‘believed’ them to be, whilst others did not believe and were ready for the cracked crest at thetop of the page. They were wrong, Mark was right.
Mark belived that Lenny would field a confident side and get a good result, others did not believe this, they, again were wrong. Mark was right.
This was our first competative game of the season, it was a Champions League Qualifier, it was away from home, and a possible banana skin.
We won three nil.
Your remark about zombies has absolutely no bearing on the subject at hand, other than to brow beat another poster who done no wrong other than be correct in his opinion and assessment of what would happen last night.
This year we cut back on overseas friendlies, knocking back money making friendlies in the states and the like, keeping them more local, but as usual not only can you not please some of the Celtic support some of the time, there are obviously some who will not be happy no matter what and supporters who profess to being pleased about anything are generally subjected to dogs abuse and personal insults.
And btw, I’ll take Lenny and all his coaching staff (who have been watching and monitoring every individual player week in week out, with opinions relative to todays game, todays competition and todays players) take on things rather than yours.
HH
What a first class pro job the bhoys done tonight.
Pre season should mean he haw to the supporters, competitive games are everything.
Sammy and Commons look in great shape, young Forrest picked up were he left off only disappointment was Stokes, this game was tailor made made for him to take over Hoopers mantle but he didn’t impress I thought.
Hail hail
I thought Kayal was fantastic last night, although certainly no Lubo.
It looks like, as per, Lenny canae win….even when he does!
Great result, fantastic team performance, but alas, for some, this is not good enough.
Never mind Lenny, all you have to do to be a success, apparently, is to nip over the to the mainland and pop one of thse Lubos that are lying around into the old shopping trolly!
While you’re at it Lenny if you see any Larssons lying around in the bargain find………………
Money for auld rope CSC