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Jackie McNamara Testimonial

Quick Review

With Celtic having won the Scottish Cup just 23 hours previously, the lack of urgency about the home side's play was unsurprising. Kevin Kilbane stabbed the ball wide from close range before Craig Beattie forced a save from Shay Given at the other end. Craig Bellamy had a well-taken finish chalked off by an offside flag and Douglas, who is set to join Leicester, denied Sunderland striker Stephen Elliott with a smart block.
Beattie was far too slow, after a run by Bellamy had taken out Given, and Steven Reid was able to nip in before he could locate the empty net.
Shaun Maloney came on for Chris Sutton just after the half-hour mark and forced a tip-over from Given with a well-aimed free-kick.
The afternoon needed spicing up and the arrival of Roy Keane, Robbie Keane and Damian Duff after the interval injected some extra quality to the Ireland line-up.
McNamara was replaced to cheers by Didier Agathe in the 57th minute and two minutes later, Henrik Larsson made his return to the Celtic line-up. Fellow old boy Lubo Moravcik also came into the action and Aiden McGeady, who had played for Celtic in the first half, reappeared for Ireland with 20 minutes remaining.
Lambert bade his farewell with 10 minutes remaining and the game seemed destined to remain scoreless until Robbie Keane slotted a cross from Gary Docherty into the net in stoppage time.
After the final whistle, O'Neill paid tribute to McNamara before bidding farewell to the fans who had sung his name.

Trivia

Martin O'Neill said his final farewell to the Celtic support as Robbie Keane struck the only goal of the game as the Republic of Ireland won at Celtic Park.
The game was also Paul Lambert's last in a Celtic shirt, before he takes over as manager of Livingston.
Others including McNamara and Rab Douglas may also have been playing for Celtic for the final time.

Teams

CELTIC:-
Douglas (Marshall 33, Hedman 60), McNamara (Agathe 56), Balde, Varga (McManus 33), Laursen, Beattie (Larsson 58), Lambert (Donnelly 79), Lennon (Sylla 59, Wallace 89), McGeady (Fernandez 46), Sutton (Maloney 33), Bellamy (Wallace 33, Moravcik 68)

IRELAND:-
Given (Kenny 46, Murphy 68), S Reid, Docherty, Cunningham (O’Brien 46), Carr (McGeady 68), Quinn (Holland 46), Miller (Roy Keane 46), Kilbane (Kavanagh 46), A Reid (Duff 46), Morrison (Robbie Keane 46), Elliot (McCarthy 68)

Att:- 50,000

REFEREE:- Brian Cassidy

Articles

• Match Report (BBC)
• Celtic skipper hails O'Neill era.
• Keane fuels Celtic transfer talk.
  

Pictures

• Match Pictures
• Fans

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