Brendan Rodgers recalls his first Celtic match - in Ballybofey against Finn Harps
The Celtic manager - a boyhood Celtic fan from Carnlough in County Antrim - was in Sligo this week where he spoke of watching Celtic for the first time, back in 1983 at Finn Park
Brendan Rodgers has this week recalled the first time he ever saw Celtic in action - and it was against Finn Harps.
“I said to the players, it gives you an opportunity to inspire,” Rodgers told Celtic TV. “Because I remember 18th of May, I think it was, 1983 when I was 10 I went to watch Finn Harps vs Celtic and 41 years later I still remember that.”
Celtic ran out 4-0 winners in front of 8,000 in Ballybofey, with Frank McGarvey, Charlie Nicholas - on his final appearance in this first spell at Parkhead before moving to Arsenal - Murdo MacLeod and George McCluskey all scoring. Nicholas had just finished the domestic Scottish season with 48 goals to his name.
Palma opened the scoring for Celtic in the ninth minute, only for Sligo to go ahead thanks to two goals before the break, Kailin Barlow levelling on 13 minutes and Simon Power netting four minutes later. That’s how it stayed until the 89th minute before Palma equalised before striking a winner in the first minute of injury time.