Celtic will have to turn to Plan B, Derry City, for Saturday’s friendly match after the UK was left out of a list of countries on the Green List published by the Irish Government.
Plans had been in place for League of Ireland champions Dundalk to visit Celtic Park but that was dependent on Government approval.
There had been suggestions that Scotland would be treated separately but earlier today the UK remained on the list requiring 14 days of quarantine ruling out a visit from Dundalk.
The Telegraph reports:
British holidaymakers are subject to a 14-day quarantine in Ireland as the UK was excluded from the country’s travel ‘green list’.
The 15 countries Ireland has deemed safe to travel to include: Malta, Finland, Norway, Italy, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Slovakia, Greece, Greenland, Gibraltar, Monaco and San Marino. These destinations have similar or lower rates of the virus cases to Ireland.
Portugal, Spain, France and the US are among the other countries popular with Irish travellers that were excluded from the list. Irish citizens are still advised “to avoid all non-essential travel overseas until further notice” with the list reviewed on a fortnightly basis.
Derry City’s unique set up on the border should ensure that Neil Lennon’s side have a game to play on Saturday on the back of their three match trip to France.
Celtic also have a game on Sunday against Motherwell, ideally the two fixtures would give Lennon the opportunity to give most of his squad almost a full 90 minutes of action before the opening SPFL match at home to Hamilton Accies on August 2.
A home match on Saturday will also allow Celtic to give a trial run to the Virtual Season Ticket allowing fans to watch matches played Behind Closed Doors or in front of restricted attendances.