1958-03-22: Celtic 4-2 Airdrieonians, League Division 1

Match Pictures | Matches: 1957 – 1958 | 1957-58 Pictures

Trivia

  • John Donnelly was back fit and restored to right back with Frank Meechan dropping back to the Reserves.
  • On the Friday night before this game Celtic Reserves beat Rangers Reserves 5-1 at Ibrox in the second leg of the Reserve Cup to take the trophy with an aggregate score of 8-2. Jim Conway scored a hatrick and McVittie, Colrain and Divers were outstanding and along with Muike Conway made for an exciting future in the forward department.
  • Sean Fallon's last match for Celtic

Review

Celtic started with superb passing football, perhaps having been inspired by the example of the Reserves at Ibrox the previous night and Airdrie were no match for the skill and the passing shown by Celtic.

Byrne opened the scoring when Wallace misjudged a pass-come-shot of his. Collins got his first immediately afterwards. Airdrie to their credit refused to buckle and pulled one back bvefore half time with a shot from McGill.

Collins got his second from the penalty spot after McPhail had been pulled down, and completed his hatrick two minutes later. Celtic continued to tease and torment the Airdrie side but failed to add to their total. Indeed Airdrie pulled another goal back by Ormond on 62 minutes.

Teams

Celtic:
Beattie; Donnelly, Fallon; Fernie, Evans, Peacock; McVittie, Collins, McPhail, Wilson, Byrne.
Scorers: Byrne (28), Collins 3 (31, pen 53, 55)

Airdrie:
Wallace; Miller, Shanks; Pricem, Baillie, Quinn; Rankin, McGill, Caven, McMillan, Ormond.
Scorers: McGill (35) Ormond (62)

Referee: A Crossman (Edinburgh)
Attendance: 15,000

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Celtic v Airdrie; League 1958; Evening Times 22/3/58

Rangers A v Celtic A; Reserve Cup 1958

‘It had been a special match, the last time Sean Fallon played for Celtic,’ Jim Craig

By Jim Craig 22 March, 2018
https://thecelticstar.com/special-match-last-time-sean-fallon-played-celtic-jim-craig/
On this day in 1958, a Celtic eleven ran down the tunnel at Celtic Park to face Airdrie in a league match.
15,000 fans were there to see the game, the vast majority of whom would have been Hoops fans and they must have been pretty confident that their side would pick up the points, as Celtic were third top on 33 points and Airdrie were third bottom on 18 points.
The Celtic team that day was Beattie, Donnelly, Fallon, Fernie, Evans, Peacock, McVittie, Collins, McPhail, Wilson, Byrne.
Only the previous evening, Matt McVittie had been in the Celtic Reserve team which scored five against Rangers to win the Second Eleven Cup but he showed no tiredness as Celtic took control of the play.
However, the fans had to wait till almost the half-hour mark before they saw a goal.

Alec Byrne got the opener when a cross-***-shot drifted over the Diamonds keeper. Three minutes later, Bobby Collins volleyed a 20-yarder into the corner to make it 2-0. However, Airdrie pulled one back before the break.

In the second half, Collins got two more, the first a penalty; and Airdrie managed a single encounter to make the final score Celtic 4 Airdrie 2.
It would appear to have been an un-remarkable league match, with nothing exceptional to mark it out as being different from any other one. However, as time by, fans realised that it had been a special match, the last time they would have seen Sean Fallon in the colours of Celtic.
With 254 appearances and 54 goals on his CV, Sean gave his beloved Celtic 100% every time he went on to the field and would go on to have many memorable moments as assistant manager to Jock Stein in the late 1960s and 1970s.