Patience pays off for O’Dea

DARREN O’DEA insisted he was happier simply to add to his tally of Celtic appearances rather than firing the club to their CIS Cup final win over Rangers yesterday.

The Dubliner, 22, who has struggled to pin down a first team place in recent years, was deputising again at left-back in place of injured Lee Naylor.

O’Dea notched his first goal in over two years in the first minute of extra-time when he headed in a Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick and the Hoops’ first cup final win over their great rivals in 20 years was sealed seconds from the end when Aiden McGeady scored the second from the spot after Ibrox defender Kirk Broadfoot had received a red card for bringing him down.

Far from going over the top about his goal O’Dea, who has been prevented on several occasions by manager Gordon Strachan from going on loan, looked forward to keeping his place for next Sunday’s SPL trip to Dundee United.

“It was more special to be playing than to score,” O’Dea said. “I’ve not played as much as I would have liked. Obviously to get a goal is the icing on the cake.

“It is good to score in any game but to score in a cup final is brilliant. My last goal was against Livingston in the cup — I think it was my last game as well!

“I can’t look too far forward. I just want to play in the next game.”

O’Dea insists retaining the SPL title is still the most important goal this season.

He said: “Winning this cup gives us a massive boost. But if we don’t win next week then all our good work will have been undone.

“It was brilliant to win and we will enjoy tonight but we will wake up in the morning and realise that there is a run-in still to come. We really need to win the league.”

A jubilant Gordon Strachan hailed O’Dea for sticking with Celtic. “I couldn’t be more pleased,” he said. “He’s had disappointments. He wanted to go on loan, just to be a better player and come back and be a better player for us.

“But I thought we were going to need him between then and the end of the season. He didn’t let his disappointment affect himself or the squad.”

Rangers manager Walter Smith insisted the game could have gone either way. He said: “I think everybody agreed it would be a tight affair. It looked as though a set play would settle it and, unfortunately, we lost it.”