- OUR PARTNERS
Celtic shot out of the blocks like a bat out of hell and were 1-0 to the good after 16 seconds. Ray Kelly was at the end of a John Byrne cross to head home. The second came after 5 mins when a corner from Eamonn O'Donoghue was beautifully met by the forehead of John Byrne who found the underside of the crossbar and down over the line to put the home side 2-0 ahead. It got worse for Valley Park on 42 mins when Gavin Harte intuitively found Glen racing forward from the left full berth. Glen Darcy threaded through a pass for John Byrne to elude the defender's tackle and shot low into the left corner of the net. Valley tried to respond quickly but Johnny Summers was equal to the task diving to his right hand side. Then just on the blow for half time, Valley pressing hard, had their shot on target blocked bravely by Glen Darcy now on defensive duties in the middle of the box. 3-0 half time.
Celtic tired significantly in the second half and were lucky not to concede on a number of occasions, but strong defending, especially by Graham Fennell, and the Celtic keeper Johnny Summers, kept a clean sheet. The home side managed to break the offside trap when Eamonn O'Donoghue, picking up a pass from Sean Conroy, put Ray Kelly through and he finished with aplomb. A good night's work and 3 points in the bag. See Galleryfor action shots from game.
