As Celtic return to Ireland for a symbolic pre-season clash with Cork City, Tony Haggerty meets the fans, families and associations keeping the club’s Irish connection alive despite the growing dominance of the English Premier League.
Celtic will take on Cork City on Tuesday evening in the SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh as they continue their pre-season build-up to the 2025/26 season.
Brendan Rodgers' side is embarking on a trip to Ireland for the third time since 2023, having previously visited Sligo Rovers and taken on Wolves in Dublin.
The Celtic Way's Tony Haggerty hit the road to Cork via Galway and Co. Kildare in Dublin to meet various Celtic supporter clubs and gain a better understanding of what it means to follow and support a club from Glasgow despite being geographically disadvantaged.
If you know your history
An Irish identity has been stitched into the very fabric of Celtic ever since the club's foundation in 1887.
The club was set up by an Irishman, Brother Walfrid, who was born Andrew Kerins in Ballymote, Co. Sligo, with the aim of helping improve the conditions in which the Irish immigrant population in Glasgow lived.
Even the name Celtic reflects the club's combined Irish and Scottish identity and heritage. Both the Celtic cross and four-leaf clover are distinctly Irish in their flavours and have featured prominently on the club's badge, while the team's colours, green and white, are also synonymous with Ireland.
In 1892, the first sod of turf laid at the newly constructed Celtic Park had been imported from Co. Donegal in Ireland. It was planted along with a smattering of shamrocks by Irish republican leader Michael Davitt.
Following the redevelopment of Celtic Park's stadium in 1995, a piece of turf sourced from the Rosses area of Donegal was also laid - a reaffirmation of Celtic’s enduring bond with the country.
That connection has only deepened over time. The club has been home to generations of Irish players and managers, and its symbolism has resonated well beyond Glasgow.
Current manager Brendan Rodgers understands the link as much as anyone, previously stating, "Lots of our supporters come from Ireland and all around the world. I think during pre-season it's always nice to take our players to the supporters, and obviously going to Ireland is very symbolic for everyone involved at Celtic."
Just how popular are Celtic in Ireland?
Formed in 1998, there are at present over 60 clubs officially affiliated to the Association of Irish Celtic Supporters clubs (AICSC) from the four major provinces - Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connaught. Delegates' meetings are held from province to province in order to bring Celtic to the Irish population.
They hold an Annual dinner every year, and Sligo legend Sean Fallon became their Honorary President. Lisbon Lions trio Bobby Murdoch, Steve Chalmers and Ronnie Simpson have all been attendees at previous dinners, as well as David Hay, Danny McGrain, Murdo McLeod, Peter Latchford and Packie Bonner.
Latterly, the likes of Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and several first-team players have joined in the celebration of Celtic and Ireland. They raise significant funds through charity events and plough it all back into the Celtic FC Foundation. For that fact alone, the AICSC has to be applauded.
Various members of the AICSC travel to Parkhead and far and wide regularly to support their club. It is a huge undertaking both financially and logistically, and their commitment to the Celtic cause is never in doubt.
Through securing season books, the AICSC has drawn Irish clubs together and given them a forum to express themselves. The formation of the association also opened up the possibility of taking in matches to many clubs that had not been able to do so, and they've pooled their resources all in the name of supporting their team.
Vice-chair of the AICSC, Gerry McDonnell, 66, from the Michael Dwyer CSC in Bray, County Wicklow, reckons the association is going from strength to strength.
McDonnell said: "Over the years, the AICSC has got a lot better, especially in the Republic of Ireland. There are more of us now than there were. The association is actually promoting Celtic here.
"New clubs are starting up all the time, and we've over 60 clubs affiliated, and we've applications from three new ones at the moment. Everything takes time for the word to spread, and we appreciate that, but we've got 60 clubs in what... 32,000 square miles of land and the Celtic fan base is growing."
As Brian McGuirk, author of Celtic FC: The Ireland Connection, explained, Celtic is "more than a football club" for Irish people.
McGurik said: "Celtic is a club that we Irish and our diaspora can proudly call our own.
"Celtic is our legacy, left to us by the courage and vision of Irish men like Brother Walfrid, John Glass and Pat Welsh."
Many of the ‘great men’ involved in Celtic’s formation were immigrants into Glasgow from their native Ireland, a country crippled by famine and political unrest.
"We didn’t just happen to support Celtic; Celtic is a part of us. Celtic for us is so much more than a football club. Celtic is an institution, an identity and a celebration of being Irish or being of Ireland."
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Increasing competition for hearts and minds
Soccer is the fourth-best-supported sport in Ireland. It trails behind both GAA games (Football and Hurling) and rugby.
The GAA is absolutely massive in Ireland, and when it comes to direct competition to Celtic, there is also the struggle to shake off the effects and pull that the big money and big exposure the English Premier League has on the Irish population.
Robbie Bonfield, from the Brian Hogan CSC in Tipperary, said: "It's a constant battle to get people to support Celtic as a lot of Irish families traditionally favour Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea or Arsenal, plus they will support the GAA big time.
"We can't promote Celtic FC enough in this country, and we're constantly trying to bring new fans to the Celtic scene. Celtic are still a big, huge, important football club in this country to so many people. I don't think the Celtic message is publicised enough. I blame our TV channels for the lack of funding for that.
"Back in the early 1990s, Network 2 used to show Celtic at 3 o'clock on a Saturday. I was 11 and 12. This is going back to 1993, 1994. I remember Celtic being shown live on TV. It's not happening anymore as we have to subscribe to Celtic TV.
"Once you bring a new generation of fans over to Celtic Park and show them what it's all about, they love it. My first ever game in the UK was with an uncle, and he took me over to North London to see Arsenal, and the first game I ever saw in the UK, was Arsenal against Sheffield Wednesday, I was devoted to him because I came from a big enough family but parents didn't have money to bring us over willy-nilly to watch Celtic.
"I followed Celtic growing up because of an older brother. I got involved in our local CSC in Tipperary when I was 16, and Celtic were the team for me from then on."
Ian O'Sullivan, a painter and decorator, who is a member of the Cork No.1 CSC, said: "Glasgow Celtic is an Irish institution abroad. Celtic may never, ever reach the height of a support-based level in Ireland compared to Liverpool and Manchester United. I'll go on record as saying, I wasn't born a Celtic fan. I wasn't born into a Celtic family.
"My father supported Liverpool, and I grew up a Liverpool fan, but I had an older brother who was a big influence because he went to the Celtic Games before me. I remember when I was growing up, taking note of Gordon Strachan's team getting results in Europe and what have you, and that's what kind of caught my eye, and I wanted to go to a game, and eventually, I got there, and I was hooked.
"I got hooked seeing Celtic on TV, and that caught my eye along with the colour and the green and white and the atmosphere and everything. I have a Celtic heart, and I was keen on the club because of the Irish connection.
"There are kids in Ireland walking around with Man City jerseys, PSG shirts and GAA tops, but I feel we don't do enough to showcase Celtic at times. The supporters in Ireland can only do so much. I can only tell my friends and my nieces and nephews about the club, but I'm only one guy. It's a collective issue.
"All my friends are Liverpool fans and Manchester United fans, but I am Celtic through and through. I struggle to put into words why I am a Celtic man, but I just couldn't get over the atmosphere, the craic, the passion and the support from the fans. I wanted more. I was only 14 at the time, and I was just drawn to them. It was like a drug.
"Liverpool and Manchester United fans tell me, 'Oh, what are you supporting Celtic for? What do you know about looking at a team playing in that crap league and all this?' They're ignorant. I tell them, I don't support the league. I support the club.
"The bombardment of English football on the TV in Ireland, PSG and all that has had an effect. It's money, isn't it? Finances, everything's taken over, and there's maybe more glamour and prestige attached to Liverpool and Manchester United, but not from my point of view.
"If you don't like Celtic, you obviously haven't been to a Celtic game."
Ferg McGinn, 57, who has been involved in the pub game for over 40 years and runs the unaffiliated Galway Celtic Supporters Club from McGinn's Bar, insists there is a new breed of young supporters coming through and that Celtic support will always be strong in certain Irish strangleholds.
McGinn said: "We're not affiliated at the moment. We have been involved over the years, but there is now an enthusiastic group at the college and a couple of young lads who want to take it on. People don't meet up to watch games as much as they used to, as one time everybody came out on a Saturday to watch the Celtic match. It's still quite refreshing to see that there is an Irish contingent who have a place like this to come to watch Celtic games.
"You will find a Celtic bar like this in every town. You can go up to Castlebar and Sligo, you go back to Balneary, you go back to Westport, it might not be as strong as in Galway. Places like Donegal, Sligo and Galway have always had an affinity with Celtic.
"I tell you what these places don't have, though. They don't have Liverpool or Manchester United supporters clubs or bars designated for those clubs. I've been going to Celtic Park all my life, and now my son is starting to go regularly, and I am proud of the fact that the Celtic supporting baton has now been handed down and passed on to him."
Celtic will always be the tie that binds the Irish and their love for a Scottish football club. They travel by the hundreds and thousands on planes, trains and automobiles, as well as ferries, to watch their beloved team every week.
The geographical disadvantages are many, and the financial sacrifices are huge, but still, it does not deter them.
On Tuesday night, Celtic's Irish fan base will pour into SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the second of the club's pre-season friendlies against Cork City.
Rodgers and his men will receive the admiration and appreciation of a core support group that eats, sleeps, breathes and bleeds Celtic. To a man, the Celtic team will be given a heroes' welcome. The Irishman is well aware of the importance of the visit across the water.
Perhaps the last word on the subject should go to O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan said: "What does it mean to be Irish and a Celtic supporter? It means everything!"
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