John Kennedy has explained the long game he played watching Eoghan O’Connell develop into a Celtic first team player.
During the 2012/13 season the kid from Cork was given his chance in the Celtic Development side and grasped it with both hands.
O’Connell was never flagged up as a golden boy in the making but worked his way into the side and quickly established himself in the side with Kennedy and Stevie Frail in charge.
In March 2014 he made his first team debut at home to Ross County but future appearances became limited.
When Ronny Deila brought in Jason Denayer one door closed on O’Connell with loan spells at Oldham and Cork City ending prematurely due to injuries.
In a strange twist of fate injuries have given him a chance to impress Brendan Rodgers with Kennedy taking special delight in seeing another Academy kid make a telling contribution to the team.
“He’s a talented player and shown that in last few games,” the Celtic coach said. “For a young player, he almost plays with experience.
“I’ve worked with him for a long time. He reads the game well, uses the ball well and wants to defend.
“He has kept on developing, kept working hard and now he’s getting the rewards for that, he has been terrific in last few games.
“The manager had no hesitation in putting him in the team, we could have rejigged things and played players out of position but decided to give Eoghan his chance.
“He has been great in training, had a good pre-season. He’s looked fit and strong and it’s been the right time to put him in.”
Kennedy added: “It’s upto him now to stay there for as long as he possibly can. There’s a lot of competition in there but he just needs to keep on performing.
“It’s important that we always look first at our own Academy as we have good players there.”
O’Connell was joined by fellow Academy bhoys Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest in the team that beat Hearts.
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