Celtic got off to a winning start in the Champions League for the first time ever on Wednesday night, and it was a very Irish affair in Glasgow.
Ultimately, Brendan Rodgers’ side romped to a 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava, giving their chances of reaching the knockout stages for the first time in over a decade a massive boost.
However, it was also a night to remember for the Irish contingent in the Celtic squad.
Since returning from a loan spell at Aberdeen last summer, Liam Scales has made himself an integral part of Rodgers’ Celtic side, and he would get the team off the mark on Wednesday with a header from Arne Engel’s first-half corner.
Celtic kick off their Champions League campaign in style ✅
Liam Scales has Rod Stewart and all of Celtic Park buzzing! 💥
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK” pic.twitter.com/W039oHQ20O
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 18, 2024
Even Rod Stewart was buzzing with Scales’ strike. In scoring, Scales became the first Irish player to notch up a goal in the Champions League since Darron Gibson for Manchester United in the 2011 semi-final against Schalke.
Just like the old adage about waiting around for the 46a, a second was not long in coming. Coming off the bench, Cork’s Adam Idah would score Celtic’s fifth and final goal of what could only be described as a rout of their Slovakian opposition three minutes from time.
Full-time: Celtic 5-1 Slovan Bratislava 🏆
Ireland striker Adam Idah puts the icing on the cake for Celtic
📺 Reaction on @RTE2 and @RTEPlayer#ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/oOn2Iaj2nc— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 18, 2024
When he came off the bench, Idah became only the 14th Irish player to appear in the Champions League in the last 14 years – a remarkable drop-off from the heyday of the mid-2000s.
Idah and Scales together achieved a remarkable Irish first in Wednesday’s outstanding opener for Celtic.
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Celtic duo set Irish Champions League record in riotous win
Both Celtic’s Irish players were on the scoresheet on Wednesday night, the first time that two Irishmen have ever scored in the same Champions League game. In fact, it was the first time that two Irish players have even scored on the same day in the competition since the European Cup was renamed in 1992.
Including the Celtic duo, only 11 Irish players have scored in the competition in the last 32 years, with only Idah, Scales, and Gibson scoring since 2010.
Roy Keane is far and away the leading Irish goalscorer in this competition with 14 goals but most of his came around the turn of the century, when few Irish players were lining out for teams competing at the business end of the Champions League.
Denis Irwin follows Keane with four goals, though the pair never scored in the same game for Manchester United. Ian Harte is next up with three goals, while Gibson, Robbie Keane, John O’Shea, and Aiden McGeady all have two goals each.
The final two men on the list, Damien Duff (three goals) and the late Liam Miller (two goals) came the closest to matching Idah and Scales’ achievement on Wednesday night.
During the 2003-04 season, both men hit the net during the group stages. On November 4th 2003, Duff scored in Chelsea’s 4-0 away win over Lazio. The following night, Miller would score for Celtic against Anderlecht. Until Wednesday’s events at Celtic Park, that remained the closest that we had come to two Irish players scoring on the same night in the Champions League.
Though the Irish national team may be at something of a low ebb of late, the goals from Adam Idah and Liam Scales at Celtic Park can only be seen as a positive at club level.
You wait 13 years for an Irish goal…then two come along at once. Brilliant stuff from Glasgow.
SEE ALSO: The Eclectic Bunch Of Irish Players To Play In The Champions League Since 2010