Duffy, Michael

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Mike Duffy sneaked into Celtic in the final day of the January 2015 transfer window as the low key addition to the squad. Praise for this time in N Ireland with Derry City, saw Celtic take him on as 'one for the future', although the much to be avoided 'Derry Pele' tag were being raised as were the comparisons to ex-Celt Paddy McCourt. He was more than happy with the move:

"Delighted to have signed for Celtic, its a dream come true, thanks for all the messages so much appreciated, cant wait to get started"
“I’ve grown up watching Paddy McCourt for years and he’s amazing, completely different class. Everyone has been saying to me to be the next Paddy McCourt and if I get somewhere near his skill I’ll be happy.”

His transfer led a very new type of predicament when Celtic fans congratulating him on his move ended up posting to the wrong Twitter feed, posting to a priest in Boston who shared the same name (both share a similar Twitter feed name). The priest took it all in good humour, and signed up as a new fan to Celtic with later posts on twitter declaring himself as having fallen in love with our club's history on reading about Br Walfrid [see articles below]. He was astounded and declared:

"Must say that I've never seen a team with such an incredible following here on Twitter. Or anywhere. I'm impressed."

Despite the colourful entrance, he never made it to the first team. He had a long loan at Alloa and Dundee, the latter at which he played only eight games.
He was transferred to Dundalk in Jan 2017, and we wished him the best.

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Never played for first team.

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Celtic agree deal to sign winger Michael Duffy from Derry City

By RAMAN BHARDWAJ

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/celtic/308741-celtic-agree-deal-to-sign-winger-michael-duffy-from-derry-city/

1 February 2015 19:58 GMT

Michael Duffy arrives at Glasgow Airport ahead of his trial with Celtic. Michael Duffy looks likely to sign for Celtic after a successful trial.STV

Celtic have agreed a deal with Derry City for the transfer of winger Michael Duffy.

After positive discussion between the clubs led to agreement, Duffy is discussing personal terms with the Scottish champions.

The 20-year-old winger had enjoyed two trial spells with Celtic, catching the eye with two goals against Newcastle United in a development game.

"We have agreed a deal with Celtic for Michael Duffy," Derry City chief executive Sean Barrett told STV.

"We thought it was dead in the water, then Celtic contacted at us to say they wanted to sign him.

"I believe Michael is discussing personal terms"

Duffy, who can also play as a striker, is a Northern Ireland Under-21 international and scored fifteen times for Derry City as they finished as league runners-up last season.

The Scottish champions didn't make their move at that time and were warned that they risked missing out on Duffy's signature as he headed to Brentford on trial.

The Bees didn't follow up on their interest and Celtic have now acted to agree an undisclosed fee, and look likely to complete the signing before Monday's transfer deadline.

Fr Michael Duffy: Baffled priest praised for Celtic move

The two Michael Duffies Michael Duffy (left) signed for Celtic, to the confusion of Fr Michael Duffy (right)
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-31160187

A priest in New York has spoken of his surprise at receiving online messages congratulating him on signing for Celtic Football Club.

Fr Michael Duffy shares the same name as the young Derry City winger who has signed for the Scottish champions.

While the two men are different in many ways, the only thing that separates them on Twitter is an underscore.

"I started receiving congratulations messages from people in Ireland," Fr Duffy told BBC Radio Foyle.

"I was looking at their names and thought, my goodness, I don't know who these people are and why they're congratulating me.
Fr Duffy tweet

"I finally found out that the other Michael Duffy signed with the Celtics – I've never in my life before been confused with a professional athlete, so it was a first for me.

"My Twitter handle is @michaelduffy while his is @michaelduffy_ with an underscore after it."

Fr Duffy admits he had never heard of Celtic or Derry City before the mix-up.

"I only watch soccer if it happens to be at the world cup or if someone else is watching it, but here in New York we have a lot of international priests coming to us from Ghana or South America, so I'd watch a game with them," he said.

However, he says he wishes the young footballer well and congratulated him on achieving his boyhood dream of playing for Celtic.

"We're proud to be Duffys today," he said.

Hail Hail! The value of an underscore, Evangelization, and a new Celtic fan!

February 9, 2015

by Fr. Michael F. Duffy

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frmichaelduffy/2015/02/celticfc/

For some time now I’ve been on Twitter and have quite enjoyed the interaction there. I use it more for news consumption than for anything else. Late last week however, I started getting a lot more mentions than usual. It seems that I’m not the only Michael Duffy around! I already knew of a few other Father Michael Duffys, including the Franciscan that preached at Fr. Mychal Judge’s Funeral.

Via all those new mentions I came to know of another Michael Duffy, this time an Irish Football player (not Soccer as I’ve come to be corrected a few times!). This young man who played for Derry City recently signed with the Glasgow Celtic FC. I must be honest that I’ve never heard of Celtic before, but boy have I now! My Twitter handle (@MichaelDuffy) and the young Michael Duffy’s twitter handle (@MichaelDuffy_) are distinguished by only an underscore. I’ve received hundreds of messages mistaking congratulating me for signing for Celtic. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the farthest thing from a professional athlete.

The BBC picked up on the confusion and called my rectory to interview me about it. I said I would for sure be rooting for Celtic and wished Michael well and prayed for a good future for the young player. I was later told that the story was at one point the most viewed story on the BBC website. Apparently a priest being confused with a footballer is a big story! I’ve since received at least a thousand new followers on Twitter and many messages welcoming me to the Celtic family as their newest fan. People sure do take their football seriously over in Glasgow and Ireland.

Coming full circle, I was informed about the history of Celtic. The football club was actually founded by a Marist brother named Brother Walfrid.

From the Celtic Wiki page:

Brother Walfrid is the religious name of Andrew Kerins, a Marist Brother and a founder of Celtic. He was born in Ballymote a village in south County Sligo in north west Ireland to John Kerins and Elizabeth Flynn. He studied teaching and in 1864 joined The Marist Brothers Teaching Congregation.

He moved to Scotland in the 1870′s (making the trip on a coal ship from Ireland) and taught at St. Marys School and the Sacred Heart School where he was appointed headmaster in 1874.

Working in the East End of Glasgow where poverty was highly visible, he set about to try to assist those in need. It was more than just his religious calling. Sadly, the decrepit environment created avenues for certain people to use to their selfish advantage. Soup kitchens could used by unscrupulous groups to entice people into their sects or gangs, and if you are destitute it is quite a choice, even life or death.

This was a threat to the poor Catholic communities who had less resources available to them than their counterparts. Br Walford needed to find ways to avert this crisis, to be able to find a way for his own church in Glasgow to be able to support their own community and find pride in themselves.

However, funds are always needed and positive role models are a necessity to keep up morale and interest, and the setting up of the club needed to be more than just a social club collective of pals (as is the general case for most start up clubs). For the love of the game is all well and good, but pride is built on reputation, honour and success. Br Walfrid wanted to bring these elements together to mirror and better the example set by the original Hibernian side from Edinburgh.

In 1887, he helped to found Celtic as a means of raising funds for the poor and deprived in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland. He was a pivotal person in the community, as Tom Maley stated: “…he only had to knock and it was opened”.

With a history like that, how can one not support such a team!

I may not have the greatest knowledge of Celtic, but I’m happy to be associated with it in a small way now. I’m happy to see it has such Catholic roots, and I hope they continue on.

God gives us so many avenues to evangelize the world, even a case of mistaken identity! Let’s not hesitate to use every chance we can to proclaim Jesus Christ! My Twitter followers a now more football fans than anything else. I’ll be doing my best to make sure they know the difference between Michael Duffy the footballer and Michael Duffy the priest! Praised be Jesus Christ! Oh, and Go Celtic! Hail Hail!