Pilgrimage to Parkhead: Travelling through the dead of night to Glasgow with Celtic faithful

Over land and sea, Dublin-based Naomh Padraig Celtic Supporters’ Club follow a well-worn path to Glasgow's East End. Their devotion may be irrational but it remains unfailing. 

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: Billy Melville, Tom Moran, Conchúr Ó Conghaile and Ciaran Kenny at a memorial for Celtic's founders. Pic: Maurice Brosnan

In the past 40 years Billy Melville estimates he has missed a total of four Celtic games. He welcomes us into his Glasgow home for gracious servings of square sausage sandwiches, Irn-Bru and Border Biscuits. He brings us to Dalbeth Cemetery to visit the grave of Celtic’s founding fathers and his own.

Melville is a friend of Dublin-based Naomh Padraig Celtic Supporters’ Club. They organise a bus to every home game. For the Glasgow derby they gather in Dublin city at midnight on Friday night to board, they cross on the boat from Belfast to Cairnryan at 3.30am, they land in Glasgow at 8.00am and we arrive at his grave an hour later.