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International Soccer Tournament - Lansdowne Road, Dublin
15th July 1997
Grand Old Team to play for, Derry City, and, last night at Lansdowne Road, a Grand Old Team to Know.
"You're talking history here," grinned manager Felix Healy after seeing his team beat Celtic 3-2 in the opening match of the Irish International Club Tournament - and earn the title of partypoopers supreme.
The script read something like this: Derry would put up a brave show against Celtic before losing to a Paulo Di Canio wonder goal; Celtic would advance to the final , against Newcastle United or PSV Eindhoven, which Sky Sports would broadcast live around the world. There were no plans to show the third-fourth place play-off, in which Derry were meant to play.
And now? Derry will make their Sky Sports debut in what Healy describes as their "European Cup Final". Celtic? On the evidence of last night's performance, Rangers can begin making plans for their 10-in-a-row celebrations.
Only six minutes in to a poor first half, Liam Coyle - whose father, Fay, scored Derry's winner against Celtic at the Brandywell in 1954 - set up Gary Beckett to score with a delicious chip over the head of the stranded Gordon Marshall. The watching Di Canio must have been impressed.
The groans from the Celtic contingent were audible, and their pain wasn't eased for another half an hour when Di Canio brought a frantic goalmouth scramble to an end by squeezing the ball between Tony O'Dowd and the right post.
That was the only light relief in a first half display that must have left new Celtic coach Wim Jansen wondering what he'd let himself in for when he ended the desperate Parkhead search for a replacement for Tommy Burns.
Burns, now a member of Newcastle's coaching staff, got the biggest cheer of the evening when Celtic fans spotted him taking his place in the stand. Maybe, after witnessing last night's events, he may be relieved it's Jansen, and not him, who's facing the new season in the Parkhead hot-seat.
The outstanding Paul Hegarty and Peter Hutton combined to give the Celtic midfield of Morton Weighorst and David Hannah an evening that will have done nothing to enhance their prospects under the new Jansen regime, while Coyle and Beckett made life uncomfortable for the Celtic back four all night.
Derry's second goal, in the 74th minute, just about capped Celtic's misery when Boyd's attempted clearance of Hutton's cross from the right rebounded off Malky Mackay into the net.
Those sporting green and white hoops around the ground bowed their heads in sheer dejection. Wieghorst levelled for Celtic just two minutes later, from a Di Canio cross from the right, but, with just 10 minutes to go substitute Ryan Coyle added his named to the Brandywell book of legends. Beckett found himself unmarked and in possession just inside the box and spotted an unmarked Coyle to his left. Coyle gathered the pass, steadied himself and smashed the ball past the helpless Marshall.
DERRY CITY: O'Dowd, Doherty, Hargan, Hutton, Curran, Dykes, Mohan, Hegarty, L Coyle, Beckett, Keddy.
Subs: R Coyle for Keddy, 18th min; Kelly for Dykes(70th min); Semple for Mohan (80th min).
CELTIC: Marshall, Boyd, McKinlay, McNamara, Stubbs, Weighorst, Di Canio, Hannah, Jackson, Thom,Donnelly.
Subs: Mackay for Stubbs (68th min); Hay for Thom (80th min).
