No Páirc Uí Chaoimh minutes for Adam Idah, but Celtic do enough to edge Cork City
Celtic’s Colby Donovan is congratulated by teammates. Pic: Ken Sutton/Inpho
Temperatures soared for Celtic’s visit to Leeside but the heat will come with the pressure of chasing a record-breaking Scottish league title.
Their fourth successive crown clinched last season equalled the haul of 55 amassed by their rivals and the momentum is with them to surpass it.
Were they to claim the bragging rights come May, it will be interesting to see what benefit they trace back to this workout against Cork City.
Celtic’s visit to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh marked the second of seven pre-season friendlies pencilled in before the defence of their mantle begins on August 3 against St Mirren.
Coming so early in a programme that entails four countries always meant Brendan Rodgers would be in cautionary mode.
He’d indicated Kieran Tierney’s comeback to the club he left for Arenal in 2019 would be delayed on account of extra rest afforded to players involved in the June international window.
There was nobody in Cork, nor beyond the county border, expecting that policy to preclude Adam Idah.
The striker left Corinthians for Norwich City 12 years ago and the opportunity of playing back on home turf for the first time seemed logical.
That was the indication all along, from the launch of the friendly in March right up to the eve when the 24-year-old was to the forefront of promotional duties. He was part of the delegation who were guests of Lord Mayor, Councillor Fergal Dennehy, at City Hall as well as engaging with fans as a sport shop visit.
Rodgers has spoken favourably of a homecoming for the Maryborough Hill native and while he trained with the squad at the GAA venue in the morning, there was disappointment his name was omitted from the 25-man squad released an hour before kick-off.
There will be reasons for his exclusion, likely based on a patient approach being adopted to finetuning his fitness across the upcoming schedule.
It will be a month on Wednesday since Idah last kicked a ball – and it was only for 14 minutes. That was a substitute cameo in Ireland’s bore draw away to Luxembourg, four days after he’d be selected to start against Senegal.
There’s a sense that Heimir Hallgrimsson isn’t as convinced as Rodgers is about Idah’s ability to lead the line for the crunch matches.
While the Corkman was the figurehead for Celtic’s 10 match run in the Champions League to the knockout stages against Bayern Munich following his €10m arrival from Norwich, he was peripheral for Ireland.
Idah wasn’t slow in reminding the Icelander of his goalscoring prowess when placing his fingers on his lips after scoring off the bench in the March win over Bulgaria.
Troy Parrott and Evan Ferguson, despite his rustiness from inactivity on loan at West Ham United, were Ireland’s preferred pairing – leaving Idah battling to separating the duo.
September 6 will signal the trust test. Dominik Szoboszlai and Hungary rock up to Lansdowne Road for the opening World Cup qualifier for what is a widely held belief to be the first battle for a playoff spot behind Portugal.
Celtic’s Irish striker who did get the nod here, Johnny Kenny, will need to bounce into the new season to harbour hopes of joining his clubmate in the squad.
Rodgers suggested that platform will be given to the Sligoman on loan after two impressive temporary stints at Shamrock Rovers.
Just once in his 45 minutes on the pitch did he come close to scoring, landing a millisecond too late for a connection on Hayato Inamura’s left-wing cross.
Rodgers sustained the rotation by changing his entire XI at the break. Luke McCowan had thundered the breakthrough into the top corner on 27 minutes, availing of a neat assist by Belgian Arne Engels.
It wasn’t all one-sided as City, led by new defensive partnership Rory Feely and ex-Celtic trainee Fiacre Kelleher, ought to have sped into the lead seven minute earlier. Malik Dijksteel, unfortunately, stood on the ball as he was poised to shoot with just Viljami Sinisalo to beat.
Another recent recruit, Charlie Lutz, was one of the few to survive Ger Nash’s interval changes and he almost grabbed an equaliser shortly after the break.
Kitt Nelson went closer by aiming fractionally wide before 17-year-old Matthew Murray swivelled on 67 minutes to turn the ball home from an acute angle.
It was petering out into the friendliest of friendly results until Colby Donovan planted in a late header.
Most of the estimated 28,000 celebrated the outcome, the importance of which will heighten after the season cranks up.
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