SPFL join in as the plaudits just keep coming for Celtic starlet Luca Connell

By David Walton

April 1, 2021

The SPFL, Queen’s Park, and their manager Ray McKinnon have all joined in the praise for Celtic youngster Luca Connell.

The Republic of Ireland under-21 international has had an incredible fortnight. Out of the football wilderness, he was sent on loan to League Two outfit Queen’s Park. He’s since managed two man-of-the-match awards, his first senior goal in football, and a comeback win for Ireland under-21s away in Wales.

All of a sudden, the Lennoxtown youngster is finally finding his stride once more. It comes after 21 months of being rooted to the development squad with no senior opportunities in sight at Parkhead. Fans had also expressed concerns over his development path after he left given he had been playing English Championship football before he signed for Celtic.

He reaffirmed his quality on Tuesday night when he bagged his first senior goal at Albion Rovers. It was an incredible effort from around 30 yards that flew into the bottom left-hand corner.

Reacting to the moment of brilliance on Queen’s Park TV, his loan boss McKinnon said the following:

“He’s a talented young kid. He’s got a lot of attributes to his game. Technically he’s lovely on the ball, he’s hard-working. He can mix it as well – he’s creative. But he’s got an excellent shot as well which you’ve seen with the goal.”

SPFL heap more praise on Celtic man Luca Connell as Queen’s Park create a new meme-in-the-making

His goal wasn’t just noticed by his manager. The official SPFL Twitter account highlighted the stupendous effort as they published the goal on their page:

Queen’s Park were next to make full use of the goal too. They reacted to the SPFL post and then even managed to create what appears to be a new meme-in-the-making:

We’ve all questioned whether this was a bigger drop-down than he needed to take. It most likely is as he’s shown with his standout displays in his two games so far. However, he’s gaining much better experience than sitting on the Lennoxtown sidelines desperate for some youth minutes.

The exposure Connell has gotten from his performances alone are terrific. All of a sudden, people are talking about him again and many are looking forward to seeing how he progresses.

He also looks set to bag promotion to League One this season too. He’s part of a title fight with his side seven points in front as things stand. It’s no wonder he jumped at the opportunity to get out and bag some minutes.

Hopefully, this short-term deal is just that. Celtic, at the very least, need to get this youngster operating at a higher level this season. Or god forbid, maybe even give him a chance at Parkhead. Perish the thought of giving young players an opportunity of course!

In other news, Odsonne Edouard’s moment of brilliance has set up an ideal Celtic opportunity.