How the Irish media reacted to Adam Idah’s display as Republic of Ireland beat Bulgaria

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Adam Idah secured a big-money permanent transfer to Celtic this season and life has been mixed for the striker in Glasgow.

The 24-year-old isn’t a regular starter under Brendan Rodgers, as the goal-crazy Daizen Maeda, has now made that centre-forward role his own at Celtic.

But, on Sunday, Idah kept his name in check when he scored the winner from the bench as the Republic of Ireland beat Bulgaria in the UEFA Nations League.

Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side were leading 2-1 from the first leg in Plovdiv, and despite falling a goal behind after 30 minutes in Dublin, second-half goals from Evan Ferguson and Idah secured the return leg victory and 4-2 win on aggregate.

It means that Ireland maintains their Nations League B place and Idah will return to Celtic with a spring in his step.

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Celtic’s Adam Idah lauded by Irish media after UEFA Nations League win

With Idah scoring from the bench, it will be interesting to see if he will now break his way into Ireland’s starting XI.

One thing is for sure, the former Norwich City man isn’t doing himself any harm, but he has West Ham United’s Ferguson and Man of the Match, Troy Parrott, ahead of him in the pecking order.

Two Irish outlets shared their thoughts on Idah’s 25 minutes on the pitch and handed him a strong rating for his off-the-bench cameo.

Balls.ie wrote: ‘Drove at the defence with more confidence than we’ve generally seen from him in an Ireland shirt. Showed composure and flair with his touches on the ball.

‘He more than deserved his tidy late goal. His finish was excellent and he had been the best Irish attacking player in the 20 or so minutes from his introduction. 7/10’.

RTE added: ‘Was impressive after coming on with an enterprising run down the right wing initially and later with a neat touch inside in the 72nd minute, and similarly combined with Jason Knight for an Irish breakaway six minutes later with a lay-off.

‘Capped off his contribution with a goal as he fired home a Sykes cross at the far post. 8/10’.

Idah’s stats for the Republic of Ireland against Bulgaria

Maeda’s so good for Celtic that, even if Idah is in top form, then it will still be difficult to earn those regular starts at Parkhead because nobody else is better in that centre-forward role than the Japan star.

With the Premiership title almost wrapped up and Celtic heading for the Treble, then it will be interesting to see what this goal will do for Rodgers’ chances of handing Idah more minutes.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	30	24	3	3	89	20	69	75
2	RangersRangers	30	19	5	6	62	28	34	62
3	HibernianHibernian	30	11	11	8	45	41	4	44
4	AberdeenAberdeen	30	12	7	11	38	46	-8	43

Even though Idah was on the field for a short period of time, he impressed highly and WhoScored proved why.