Cork City and Celtic connections run deep 

This evening will see Cork City take on Celtic at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in a Super Cup match that will bring thousands of people to the Rebel County, and with it comes stories and connections linking the two representative clubs.

This goes beyond Adam Idah, the Maryborough Hill native that is expected to start this evening in a green and white jersey.

The links between Cork and Celtic run deep, with one starting point being the career of Jim ‘Fox’ Foley.

The goalkeeper started out with Cork FC and he helped the club win the FAI Cup in 1934 before going to Scotland to act as Joe Kennaway’s understudy.

Foley got his chance in October 1935 and he stood in between the sticks during a victory over Airdrie. 

‘Fox’ had his best run as a starter between December and January that season, which included a 4-3 defeat to Rangers. 

Celtic still managed to go on to win the league, and the shot-stopper keeping four clean sheets was considered a key part of that according to club historians.

33-year later, another Cork goalkeeper was on his way to Scotland. 

This was different as Billy Morgan had been invited for a trial in Glasgow after word got back to Jock Stein about his performances for the Rebel County during the defeat to Kerry in the 1969 Munster final.

That was the era of the Lisbon Lions and high expectations, with Celtic starting out on a campaign that would accumulate in a second appearance in the European Cup final. 

Morgan was even asked to stay longer, but that meant passing on a teaching job at home. 

The goalkeeper choose what he knew best, and went on to lift Sam Maguire in 1973.

Things went the other way at the end of the millennium, as Celtic great Mick Conroy joined Cork City as they tried consolidating their place in the Irish football pyramid.

The three-time Scottish Premiership winner sent Colin Healy the other way, and the Ballincollig native made his debut in green and white during a 3-0 defeat to Rangers in May 1999 at Parkhead.

The midfielder was an academy graduate, who would train under Kenny Daglish and Martin O’Neill. 

The latter would prove transformative for the midfielder’s career, as it meant regular game time and the reward was success in the League Cup and Scottish Premiership during the 2000-01 season.

Liam Miller followed the same path, instead he went from Ovens instead of Ballincollig. 

The midfielder, like Healy, progressed through the academy, and made his debut in May 2000.

Miller represented the club 44 times in four different competitions before joining Manchester United, with the highlight being a goal during a 2-0 victory over Lyon at Parkhead in the group stage of the 2003-04 edition of the Champions League.

Roy Keane finished his career at Celtic after his high profile departure from Manchester United, and that saga lasted just six months.

This was a romantic move in every sense as the aging star was a boyhood fan of the Hoops, something that was stressed in the press surrounding the move once it was announced in December 2005.

Keane did not have an easy start in Glasgow as his first game was a shock 2-1 defeat to Clyde in the Scottish Cup. 

The midfielder rebounded by helping Celtic get the better of Dunfermline Athletic in the League Cup final at Hampden Park, and the club made it a double by capturing the league title later in the year.

The baton was picked up by Fiacre Kelleher and Eoghan O’Connell during the 2010s, but neither was able to create a lasting legacy at Parkhead.

O’Connell did manage 13 first team appearances, which includes a run in the UEFA Champions League under Brendan Rodgers during the 2016-17 season. 

This counted for very little as the defender was loaned out to Walsall during the January transfer window.

The current generation at Celtic Park is Adam Idah and Saoirse Noonan, and the pair just finished their first full season in Glasgow.

Idah signed permanently last summer after a loan spell which included scoring the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final, and he went on to score 20 goals between four different competitions in the 2024-25 campaign.

Noonan went one better by finishing the year as top scorer for Celtic, but failed to win a trophy. 

There was solace in the Women’s Champions League as the striker netted a hat-trick during the qualifiers, and that helped the club qualify for the group stages for the first time.