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Personal
Fullname: Patrick Breslin
aka: Pat Breslin
Born: 2 October 1881
Died: […]
Birthplace: Maryhill, Glasgow
Signed: January 1899 (trial from Johnstone FC)
Position: Centre-Half
Debut: Celtic 4-1 Dundee, League, 7 Jan 1899
Internationals: N/A
International Caps: N/A
Biog
Young defender Pat Breslin is among that rare breed of players to just make a single full-match appearance for Celtic. In the modern day, youth players would be bedded in with a substitution late on in a game to introduce them to first team action. In the older days there were no substitutions permitted.
He joined the Bhoys at the start of 1899 as a trialist from Johnstone FC and made his Celtic outing in the final league game of that season on 7th January 1899 aged just 17 when he helped the first team to a 4-1 home victory over Dundee. Five days prior to his debut Celtic had been slaughtered 4-1 at Ibrox by Rangers, so in a small way he had helped Celtic bounce back.
Not an easy debut game in which to impress in a game played in the rain with a poor turn-out of just 800 hardy souls weathering the poor conditions. The match report by the Glasgow Herald is very critical of the performance mostly blaming the conditions including the “dreadful state of the ground“. Allan Lynch also played in his match alongside Pat Breslin, and this is believed to have been his only match for Celtic that season too.
That season, Rangers won the league without dropping a point (there were just 18 games in the league at that time). An admittedly formidable achievement.
Sadly, there was little more than that for Pat Breslin at Celtic, and he wasn’t given a further opportunity to prove himself. His trial game didn’t work out long-term at Celtic, and Tom Hynds was back at centre-half for the Scottish Cup final, which Celtic won by 2-0 over Rangers; it was Celtic’s second Scottish Cup title.
Celtic after that 4-1 defeat to Rangers just prior to Pat Breslin’s debut had actually got back on track for the rest of the season. In addition to the Scottish Cup, the First Team had wrapped up the season with another 2-0 victory over Rangers, this time in the Glasgow Charity Cup. It meant little opportunity for the young Pat Breslin.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1899 | 1 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 1 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
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Notes
Below states that Breslin came from Johnstone FC, a now defunct club that was based in Johnstone, Renfrewshire.
