The Celtic Players of Tomorrow – U15 & U16 Scottish Cup Finals

Ross H reports from the youth Cup Finals which took place at the weekend

I had the huge pleasure of going to watch not just one Celtic youth team in action at the weekend, but two Celtic youth teams play at Falkirk Stadium. Our under 15s and under 16s both made the Scottish Cup Final for their respective age groups.

Celtic U15s vs Dundee U16s

Celtic U15s vs Dundee U16s? - I was told this is because Celtic have an “Elite” academy where as Dundee are part of the performance level and so you get different age groups.

Now I never watch a youth game and worry much about the result, but I appreciate that when I was the same age as these lads, I wanted to win at everything and so for them it matters and seeing some of the nerves getting to the Mums and Dads who play such a vital part in this process just reminds you of the work that players and their families put in to try and make a dream come true. I genuinely doff my cap to them all, and to the Mum of the young referee who was there supporting her boy, it was a pleasure chatting with all the parents I came across on the day. Really good folk and it was lovely seeing all the teams who played get plenty of backing from the main stand.

I sadly only caught the second half of the Celtic under 15s 4-2 loss to Dundee, as I was desperately clinging on in the hope of seeing a James Forrest goal before I left home, that was worthwhile.

The young Hoops gave it plenty in the second half but a mix of the age difference, speed, power and height all certainly seemed to play a part in the Sahara like heat that was beating down on Falkirk Stadium in the middle of the afternoon. You know it’s bad when we are getting water breaks in Scotland.

Mark McNally’s lads never gave up and you could see flashes of quality throughout, but the pace of the game, the heat and the Dundee players just having that extra bit of strength, pace and knowhow seen them rebound from being 1-0 down at half time to 4-1 up late on. The young Celts kept at it and got a goal back late on and Dundee lifted the Cup.

A young lad Lennon Watt who I have known about since he was at Hamilton Accies courtesy of a friend who regularly sent me videos of his goals from a young age was a standout performer and has been all season by most accounts. He has also part of an impressive young Scotland team who beat Spain recently. I was told that he scored the first goal for the u15s and despite a full game in the sun he made it on to the bench for the u16s in the game after.

Celtic U16s vs Motherwell U16s

The second game of the day was the under 16s final that seen the young Celts dominate most of the game. Michael O’Halloran setup the young team in a typical Celtic 433 with an emphasis on one of our fullbacks being asked to invert. That plan was clear in the first half but wasn’t always as fluid as O’Halloran or his touchline buddy for the day, Steve Hammell, would probably have liked but they were doing ok.

The lack of fluidity combined with the dogged Motherwell resistance resulted in the 1^st half being a little bit stuffy, with limited moments of quality. One or two few close moments came and went before we got ahead including a thunderous drive from Emmanuel Obidiwe (a young man who has already been up with the 18s and B team) from the left side that smacked off the underside of the bar and came down and back out (in all honesty only goal line tech would have given a clear answer and I did laugh when I see Emmanuel double checking with the linesman during the water break, I’m with you big fella… it was in… I think) before Conor Daly put the young hoops ahead with a well taken right footed finish into the corner of the net on the 33^rd minute.

Motherwell did offer a few threats on the break, but the final passes weren’t really coming close to hitting the mark and for the most part Celtic dominated the ball.

The second half seen the young Celts come out of the traps looking more fluid, with Hassan Dembele (another player from the Dembele family) looking a lot more at ease with his inverted fullback role and that in turn was allowing the young Celts to have more control through the midfield and beat the Motherwell press more often. Dembele moving in beside the composed and powerful unit of our number 6 - Liam Kennedy (another who has been up in the 18s and B team) - to form a solid base for us to move the ball out from the back and into the attacking third, allowing us to really take over that central zone with Rocco Di Giacomo and Conor Daly just ahead of them in the 8/10 roles getting more joy and then we had Connall Glancy, Emmanuel and Lucas Clearie as our front 3.

Now my apologies if I’ve got the scorer wrong for our second. I choose the worst time to sneeze and we had 2 players in a similar area when the ball was put into the net, and the stadium announcer didn’t announce our goal scorers but did with all the goals against us (funny that eh). What I do know is it was a move that seen Glancy who had shown some nice dribbling skills at times, do really well on the right side and then moving the ball over to the left (insert the sneeze) and then the ball was in the box, I think as I lifted my head that it was Lucas Clearie who done well to dig it out from under his feet to poke a shot past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. If it was, or whoever it was should be really happy that despite the ball being almost under them that they managed to get enough on the shot to get on the scoresheet and give the team a nice cushion.

From this point on I felt the young Celts might run the score up as they had found a good rhythm. However, Motherwell clearly sensed it was now or never and stuck in. They began trying to press the game a bit more. Winning a few free kicks in good areas, that and mix of the young Celts dropping a bit deeper as the game went on seen Motherwell pull one back through Blane Watson, one of two Motherwell players who for me looked like they could standout in better teams, he along with their number 6 who according to the announcer team sheet was Kalili Fraser Tralgic (sorry if that’s wrong) both done pretty well. No idea why it’s so hard to get a team sheets at these games.

The game then seen Motherwell push for a late equaliser but without any real threat and to be fair Hamish Morton in goal was rarely tested and anything that came his way he dealt with well. The back four of Dembele, Hainey, Meechan (captain) and Charlton also done sound jobs for the majority of the game, cleaning up a few counters and keeping things tight and clean.

The season is now done, the under 16s have really cantered through it with the. League and Scottish Cup won and they are a team who are being lauded inside Lennoxtown / CP with the vast majority set to sign pro deals and move into the u17s / u19s setups next season. A few will also have a part to play in the B team which looks like it has 1 more year left.

No one can say with any certainty that any one of these players will make it but a few in my opinion have skillsets and physical advantages that a lot of young players at that age would kill for and that is a great starting point. It’s up to them to make the most of those things and up to the club to ensure we have the best people and design in place to support their growth both on and off the pitch… I certainly hope they at the very least get more support both on and off the pitch than the current U18s have received.

Football at times seems hell bent on building robots, but many of these players have things that make them standout and if they aren’t encouraged to do what they are best at then for me they are more likely to become just another promising young player who never quite made it.

If I could say anything to them it would be to remember what makes you unique as a player. Are you a powerful unit that can eat up ground, if so then eat up that ground. Do you have an accurate shot from range, then ping one if you really fancy it, and if you have a wicked ability to play passes in behind teams that can set your attackers free then do that…. Listen and learn from everyone, but always be the best version of you on that pitch because the best version of you will always be better than the best version of something someone is forcing you to try and be.

The other thing I want to do is give credit to a few lads from Celtics u18s who turned up to support their mates. I couldn’t help but notice Motherwell seemed to have loads of their academy lads in attendance from their u18s and above in the stands cheering on their mates and I had hoped Celtic would be the same, but from a rough head count I could only see 3 or 4 faces that I recognised from the age groups above. I don’t know if they were asked to attend, but personally that is a value that for me should be considered as important in our Academy, supporting your mates when you can as many of these players have been up with the 18s so they all know each other. I appreciate that it is exam time and for some it might not be easy, but I think where possible we as a club should look to make that happen (even if it is trophy day).

As it stands it looks like the setup next season will be Michael O’Halloran running the u17s, Adam Asghar the u19s and Stephen McManus will run the B team. Willie McStay (Head of Academy Recruitment) along with Steven Hammell (Head of Coaching) and Chris McCart (Head of Academy) and Brian Meehan (Operations Manager) are the senior figures. Our pathway manager Darren O’Dea is away to Swansea and so maybe some things will change, maybe a lot should change….

My little sidenote and project…

Some may or may not have realised that I have an interest in our Academy teams and how we manage player development, including loans for guys who have been bought as “projects”.

As a content creator on here it’s something I want to cover on a regular basis and I’m in the process of putting something together that will allow for that to happen that will be based upon the work seen on the Twitter (X) Account – Celtic Youth and Loans run by a friend of mine Josh McCafferty, who is regularly feature on the Celtic Way and various other fan media sites. The key element is the desire from our audience to want to read or hear about it and I think for those who enjoy the engagement on the Substack chat and in the comment section, you already know that I’m happy to respond to most things and this would be the same.

So, if you do think this kind of content is worthwhile and that it’s something you will enjoy then drop a like or a comment on this, or pop a comment in the Substack chat and hopefully I, along with some help from a few people like me who really want to see our Academy thrive and become a core part of the club will be able to create content that is unique in the fan media space for you to enjoy.