Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has decided to switch his international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland.

The Parkhead youth graduate is reportedly in the process of transferring his talents to represent Ireland after holding talks with national team boss Stephen Kenny. Johnston qualifies to play for Ireland through his grandparents, who are from Derry.

The 23-year-old is currently on loan at Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal and had previously played for Scotland's under-19 and under-21 age groups.

If FIFA gives the go-ahead then Johnston could be set to take his Ireland bow as early as this month when the Republic face Latvia on March 22 in a friendly before taking on World Cup runners-up France in a 2024 UEFA European Championships qualifier.

 

Elsewhere, Celtic wide man Liel Abada has spoken of how his game has come on leaps and bounds due to the coaching influence and guidance of former Leeds United and Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell.

The Israeli enjoyed a stunning season at Celtic, where he netted 15 goals, and has an impressive 26 goals and 14 assists in 91 appearances for the Hoops so far.

Celtic Way:

Abada said: "I feel like I am a better player than I was last season, to be honest. I can still learn a lot from the manager and his coaching staff to get even better. I think this season my goal is to get the left-back one on one more and get confidence. Gavin [Strachan] and Harry do it with me every time. I just want to improve for myself, the team, the club, and everyone.

"I think we can learn a lot from Harry because he played in the Premier League and had an amazing career. He teaches us a lot about football because we are young players and want to always get better. It is very important for us that he looks after us.

"I didn't watch him [play] as I was still young. I don't remember that. I watched videos after I met him and he was very, very good and had an amazing career. It is a pleasure for me to learn from this player, just work hard, and it is very good he looks after us."

Finally, former Celtic goalkeeper and Lisbon Lion John Fallon is all set to be immortalised in war-torn South Sudan with the building of the '12th Lion School' due to an amazing collaboration between Emmy-winning filmmaker Jamie Doran and Alison Tunga, the leader of a resistance group known as the Arrow Boys.

Join Tony Haggerty and Aidan Macdonald in the video below as they discuss all this and more...