Brendan Rodgers recalls his first Celtic match - in Ballybofey against Finn Harps

Brendan Rodgers has this week recalled the first time he ever saw Celtic in action - and it was against Finn Harps.

Rodgers took a Celtic squad to the north-west, where they overcame Sligo Rovers 3-2 in a friendly on Wednesday night with Luis Palma scoring a hat-trick. The Celtic manager - a boyhood Celtic fan from Carnlough in County Antrim - said such trips can act as a chance for the football club to breed a new generation of fans.

“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. 

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Donegal was well-represented in the Showgrounds friendly, with four players on view, all coming on at half-time by which time their Sligo side were 2-1 up - Gareth McElroy from Burnfoot; Glenties’ Shea Malone; Kevin Muldoon of Donegal Town (pictured below) and Killybegs native Colin Mooney.

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.