Celtic’s u-17 side are looking for a grand slam of Glasgow Cup successes tonight.
Having won the last three tournaments at Celtic Park, Hampden and Ibrox a win at Firhill would make it a clean sweep of Glasgow stadiums to have triumphed at.
For Dan Church and Jack Aitchison picking up a winners medal for the third season running is a great achievement in any under age tournament.
Week by week the players are involved in matches at training grounds although the benefit of artificial pitches at Hamilton Accies and Kilmarnock allows games to be played at the first team stadium.
Against Sevco in the league Celtic won 3-0 at Lennoxtown towards the start of the season, in the Glasgow Cup the teams drew 1-1 at Murray Park before a dead rubber was lost 4-1 at Lennoxtown with both clubs playing their u-15 teams.
I’ve not checked out the condition of Firhill but a decent sized grass pitch should allow the young hoops to knock the ball around, play their passing game and impose themselves on the opposition.
Unusually for a Celtic side one of the main strengths is in defence, three of Michael O’Halloran’s regular back four are in the successful Scotland u-17 side with Max Potter surely knocking on the door for international recognition.
Tonight’s match will be shown live on STV Glasgow which gives the players an edge as well as boost sales of hair gel and styling mousse.
I’ve not been as upto date with this squad as I was last year but there’s plenty of potential on show with more than a few budding Kieran Tierney’s and Liam Henderson’s around- we’ve even got the next Henderson in Ewan whose style on the park is very similar to his older brother.