Celtic’s Irish Bhoy Is Earning Rave Reviews And Ange Will Be Watching Closely.

Mikey Johnston made his Ireland debut last night from the bench, and set up the goal which won the game, and as such he’s earning rave reviews and – as an ancillary benefit – making those in the Scotland set-up who ignored him for years realise what they missed.

The kid is a good player.

He’s not yet a great player, and he has to be a great player to get back to Celtic and make an impact here. Nevertheless, he continues to work hard and grow and develop and I think that he has the right mentality for it to pay off.

We’ve done the right thing by Mikey, particularly in moving him out of Celtic Park for a while. He needed to go out and prove himself somewhere else rather than waste his time on our bench.

He should be a critical part of our team in the future, particularly as he’s a home grown footballer who will be part of our European squad going forward.

He can do it. There was never any doubt about this.

He always had the talent. It needed polish, it needed work, he needed to get better.

I think we risked ruining that guy in throwing him into the team for some of the games we did under Lennon … we even played him as a striker at times and he’s not that and never will be.

Everyone who has encountered him in training says that few players give more.

That’s the kind of thing Ange wants first. It’s not everything – you have to prove that you can perform too. But the guy has something, something frustratingly as obvious as he is inconsistent.

I still think he will come back to Celtic Park and play a role under this boss.

Ange is certainly watching. He will have noted last night’s display with satisfaction. He wanted Mikey to have those kinds of experiences whilst he was out on loan.

Let’s not forget that he handed him a new deal before sending him out.

I was thrilled for the boy, and pleased for our club.

Maybe, just maybe, the real talent will now start to emerge.

Those headlines today can only help.