It’s not just Brendan Rodgers’ men that are preparing for the new season ahead. The youngsters in the Celtic B team have also started their preparations for another year in the Lowland League.
The young Hoops took part in a friendly in Ireland against Sligo Rovers last night ahead of the new season kick-off in less than ten days time.
Despite putting up a good fight, the youngsters went down 2-1 last night. Two first-half goals from Sligo were enough to see off O’Dea’s young Bhoys. Jude Bonnar pulled one back but the Irish side held on to claim the victory.
Celtic manager Darren O’Dea was delighted with the performance of his team and he also recognised the important contribution of a key member of his backroom team for his part in the youngster’s pre-season preparations.
O’Dea said [Celtic FC], “I thought this game would be a marker.
“And I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t think we would hit the mark of what we did tonight.
“We have done so much work in terms of movements and things that we have changed because we were so aligned into one way of thinking last year.
“To change can actually be quite difficult. But to change that quickly and be able to take on information.
“There is a real emphasis on Michael Gallagher, our analyst. He has played a massive part in that and worked tirelessly to make sure myself and Stephen (McManus) have the information to give to the players.
“The biggest thing is when you try something new on a pitch when you are exposed, people are sometimes apprehensive to try it.
“The players absolutely weren’t and that is what we ask of them. Because of that, you see improvements.
“From where the game started, I thought we were a better team come the end of 90 minutes.”
Before joining Celtic, Gallagher was a first team Performance Analyst at Albion Rovers. He then went on to spent just under two years at Motherwell as an Academy Performance Analyst before moving onto Rangers in 2020.
He looked after analytics for the Ibrox club’s girls and women’s team for two years before he was hired by the SFA as a Performance Analyst in 2021.
Celtic picked him up in 2022 and after just eleven months in the job, he is already becoming a key figure in the development of the B team. [LinkedIn]
What makes this all the more impressive is that despite losing ten of his regular players to Brendan Rodgers’ Portugal training camp, the young Celts still managed to give the Irish Premier Division side a competitive match.
There is no way of telling if any of the ten that Rodgers took with him will be a part of his plans going into next season, but the youngsters that stepped up last night have definitely done themselves proud and given O’Dea and Stephen McManus a lot to look forward to next season.
In other news, Willie Miller names versatile Celtic defender to fill priority position at Aberdeen
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