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Trivia:
- Derry City came into the tournament as Irish Champions and were using the games as warm ups for their Champions League 1st Qualifying round game against Slovenian side NK Maribor.
- Di Canio stated he would travel to Ireland with the team. Once In Ireland he announced that he would quit Celtic after the short Irish tour.
- Cadete meanwhile remained in Portugal under medical attention. His condition was described as "….. affecting his physical and mental well-being."
- Feyenoord began to put obstacles in the way of Larsson leaving the Dutch club.The Dutch club were seeking £2.00million for his transfer.
- Darren Jackson was signed from Hibernian on 12/7/97 for £1.25million and given a 3 year contract to July 2000. Hibs gave a trial to Gerry Creaney (released by Manchester City) as a possible replacement for Jackson. It was also alleged that Ricky Gillies was about to sign and that moves were being made for Stephane Mahe
- Neither Phil O’Donnell or ‘Rico Annoni travelled to Ireland. O’Donnell had a knee problem. Prior to the game Stewart Kerr damaged knee ligaments. He returned to Glasgow and Youth keeper Andy McCondichie was rushed over as backup for Gordon Marshall.
- Celtic announced that the new shirt sponsors were Umbro, who signed a three year deal
- Despite having agreed a £350,000 deal for Peter Grant with Wolves the move had still not gone through.
Review
Celtic had agreed the previous season to take part in this pre-season tournament in Dublin. The four teams were Newcastle Utd, PSV Eindhoven, Derry City and Celtic. A lack of preparedness and any kind of team cohesion showed in this first game.
Teams:
Derry City: O'Dowd, Doherty, Hargan, Hutton, Curran, Dykes, Mohan (Semple), Hegarty, L Coyle, Beckett, Keddy (R Coyle).
Subs: Boyle, Kelly, Devine, Gallagher, McCabe, Brady.
Scorers: Beckett (8), Mackay (og, 74), R Coyle (79)
Celtic: Marshall, Boyd, McKinlay, McNamara, Stubbs (Mackay), Wieghorst, Di Canio, Hannah, Jackson, Thom (Hay), Donnelly.
Subs: Gray, McLaughlin, Johnson, McBride, McCondichie.
Scorers: Di Canio (35), Wieghorst (76 )
Referee: G Perry (Dublin)
Attendance: 18,000
Articles
- Match Report
Sun, The (London, England)
July 16, 1997
Author: Robert Reid
Derry City 3 Celtic 2
Beckett's goal's Derr-ific for City
GARY BECKETT upstaged golden Bhoy Paolo Di Canio with a wonder strike as Derry shocked Scottish giants Celtic.
Beckett ignited the Irish International Soccer Tournament after just seven minutes with an exquisite right-foot finish.
And the National League's Young Player of the Year went on to supply the pass for sub Ryan Coyle to drill home Derry's winner 11 minutes from time amid delirious scenes at Lansdowne Road.
Celtic could have no complaints on a night when Felix Healy's part-timers reigned supreme.
Boss Healy was hoping for a confidence boost ahead of City's Champions' League showdown with Slovenian champs Maribor Branik later this month.
And even he could not have wished for a better start with James Keddy twice going close before Beckett's sensational opener.
Lifelong Celtic fan Tom Mohan pierced the defence with a super cross from the right and Liam Coyle gave Beckett sight of goal with the sweetest of touches.
Admire
And Celtic keeper Gordon Marshall could do little but admire the quality of the finish as young Beckett sent the ball whistling into the back of the net.
The Derry fans went wild, but Celtic star Di Canio was not in the shadows for long.
The 28-year-old Italian went into last night's game sticking by his decision to quit Parkhead in the aftermath of a bitter rift with Celtic supremo Fergus McCann.
He was met with chants of "Di Canio, Di Canio" every time he touched the ball in the strongest show of public support yet.
And he responded in typical fashion by scoring the equaliser.
Tightly policed by four Derry defenders in a packed penalty area, he still managed to squeeze a delightful cross shot past keeper Tony O'Dowd from the tightest of angles.
This pre-season friendly was anything but at times with Derry's Paul Curran lucky to escape a booking from Dublin referee Gerry Perry for a two-footed tackle on new signing Darren Jackson.
The duo clashed again just a minute later and this time Jackson felt the full force of Curran's elbow after a tangle.
Jackson did manage to get away from Curran in the 13th minute, but curled his shot wide of the target.
O'Dowd twice came to Derry's rescue either side of half-time.
Andy Thom looked a certain scorer in the 26th minute after Morten Weighorst speared a pass through the heart of the Derry defence.
But O'Dowd sensed the danger and forced the Celtic star away from the dangero zon.
O'Dowd was inspired.
When Celtic looked like scoring again, he produced a stunning double save to thwart Simon Donnelly. And the Celtic man led then led the applause!
Curran was also defiant with a well-timed tackle to stop David Hannah getting a shot on goal.
Derry regained the lead 16 minutes from time when Tommy Boyd turned Peter Hutton's harmless looking cross into his own net.
But the celebrations lasted a mere two minutes with the Derry defence caught napping as Weighorst headed home a teasing cross from Di Canio.
Drive
Derry were not to be denied, however, and with 11 minutes to go, substitute Ryan Coyle had the final say with a low left-foot drive as Derry completed a remarkable victory.
- Manager Interview
Wim Jansen, post match:
"Today we gave goals away too easily. We had a lot of chances but couldn't score … but the way we gave goals away will have to be worked on and some things changed.
"Some players weren't quite fit, like Darren Jackson and Paolo Di Canio, who played their first games,
"That's why we play these matches, we need the fitness for next week's European game."
On Di Canio:
"He had some good moments but still you can see that his fitness isn't 100 per cent. However, his skills are very good."
On new signings:
"We gave a list to them [the board] and they know about the situation. We know the players that we need but they can only do the job, I can't do anything about this.
"You better ask Jock Brown what is the reason because I don't deal in this situation. I can only give from a technical point of view. I give my ideas but they have to make up their mind about the finances."
Felix Healey, Derry City manager:
"We've got the best two footballing brains in the country up front in Beckett and Coyle. It's a great night for the national league. We have a group of young players who just want to play which is very refreshing in these times, with so many mercenaries about both in Ireland and across the water."
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