Arsenal 3 Celtic 2: can Daryl Murphy win over Bhoys fans?

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First, any excuse to re-post this clip of Dance to Tipperary performing Fields of Athenry at Celtic Park, a version I love.

Second, an excuse to ask what Celtic fans made of Daryl Murphy, who scored against Arsenal today. Especially after the lively debate here when he moved from Sunderland …

The lads in green and white hoops on the Tube didn’t seem too impressed. But even they had to recognise that scoring the first Celtic goal set up an interesting last 20 minutes or so.

This is how the Telegraph report put it:

Daryl Murphy pounced to score Celtic’s first after Arsenal missed several chances to clear and then Ki Sung Yueng exploited huge defensive gaps to convert Fortuné’s cross and provide some respectability to the result.

I assured the Bhoys at Green Park station that Daryl would go on to score more goals, some of them spectacular.

And I suspect he’ll do so against the lowly opposition Celtic will meet in the SPL, gathering confidence gradually until it seems like a natural way of going about his work. And then – who knows? I’d be delighted to see him succeed at Celtic.

The short conversation on the platform ended with quick “good lucks”: mine for Celtic to reclaim top spot in Scotland, their cheerful willingness to wish good times on SAFC.

* See also: A Celtic nightmare – or dream move for Daryl?

* Daryl Murphy: good for Celtic, good for us?


Colin Randall


* NB: the mountains of spam out there mean that I have to moderate comments, so people posting for the first time will experience a delay before their purple prose appears …

9 thoughts on “Arsenal 3 Celtic 2: can Daryl Murphy win over Bhoys fans?”

  1. Limited ability, played out of position. Out of these so called Sunderland centre forwards of recent years, Torre Andre Flo, Jon Stead, Andy Gray or Daryl Murphy who would you say put in the biggest shift? Murphy, like Nozza was playing at a level or two too high in the Premier, but he never wound me up like the others. But then I thought Stead was a trier too if another headless chicken.

  3. Malcolm I don’t know what you regard as a trier but Murphy is far from that, he’s one of the laziest players I have ever watched in a Sunderland shirt, he never looks interested which is a shame because with his size and a little bit of speed he did look like a decent player now and again but those performances were few and far between.

  4. Don’t have a Scottish side. Was tempted to follow Elgin when they had the worst record in the SFL but then I saw what kit they play in! I think Murphy will do OK in the SPL. Whatever you think of his ability he’s a trier.

  6. He didn’t score goals against Arsenal when he was at us!

    I, as always, will be cheering on Hearts in the upcoming SPL season (when I care to pay attention) – and will be hoping Rangers do the quadruple over Celtic – and then any other times they meet in the cups/whatever…

    Never been a fan of Celtic, always preferred Rangers. Although I got sick of both of them and generally opted for Hearts who were then the third largest team in the league.

    Still, best of luck to Daryl in the upcoming season and any other Celtic players who bare Sunderland ties.

  7. As a Celtic fan I was happy to see him hit the net for us today, I have no doubt he will score a few goals for us over the coming season or so and will prove to be a decent addition to the squad, I just worry he is here to take the place of Samaras, who although is inconsistent to say the least, is a top class player on his day and has more ability than Murphy. So far he hasn’t looked too bad, he has a decent touch on him and isn’t as slow as some have suggested. Nobody’s really expecting anything from Murphy, and I see that as a good thing, too often over the years we’ve spend money and the hype and excitement has led to us being let down, who knows, there is no pressure on Daryl and maybe he’ll be able to quietly make a name for himself. Good luck to Sunderland next season, it’s been good discussing our two clubs over the past month or so since the Murphy news broke, Bruce is building a very nice team there and I can see big things for you guys in the future.

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