CELTIC KEPT THEIR 100% away record in the Scottish Premiership intact as super sub Leigh Griffiths’ sensational free-kick handed the champions a 1-0 victory at Ross County on Saturday.
Celtic struggled to overcome a stubborn County defence and failed to register a shot in the first half.
Griffiths came to the rescue in the 78th minute as he curled a free-kick into the top corner to make it seven away wins out of seven in the league.
Celtic extended their unbeaten domestic run to 64 matches ahead of a midweek visit to Paris Saint-Germain in Champions Group B.
Despite facing a tough trip to the French capital, Celtic named an unchanged side with Jozo Simunovic and Griffiths recovering from injury to take their places on the bench.
Celtic started the match confidently, spraying passes across the pitch with Ross County struggling to get near the ball.
However, Brendan Rodgers team struggled to get in behind a well-organised County defence with Callum McGregor’s pace posing the home team their only real problems.
The Scotland midfielder felt he should have had a penalty midway through the first half as he burst into the box and evaded a couple of challenges before going down following a last-gasp tackle from Christopher Routis.
McGregor claimed the County defender clipped his heels as he prepared to shoot, but referee Nick Walsh waved away the appeals.
The usually prolific Celtic forward line did not manage a shot during the first half and it was left to defender Mikel Lustig to show them the way shortly after the break, when he fired a McGregor corner into the side netting.
Moussa Dembele, fresh from scoring a 12-minute hat-trick for the France under-21 side during the international break, offered little threat in the Highlands and when he finally got a strike on target it was a tame effort straight at the ‘keeper.
County seemed content to soak up the Celtic pressure but they did manage to force Craig Gordon into a save on the hour from a Routis free-kick.
Kieran Tierney was making his 100th appearance for Celtic but he had little cause for celebration when he picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Michael Gardyne.
With time running out, it was Griffiths who came up with a moment of magic to open the scoring.
The Celtic striker lifted his free-kick up and over the wall with pace and it landed right in the top corner giving County ‘keeper Aaron McCarey no chance.
Olivier Ntcham immediately replaced Dembele and almost made an instant impact as he cracked a volley off the post as the visitors finished strongly.
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This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone