THE major impact which Celtic’s second half substitutes made against St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday night may have delighted manager Brendan Rodgers and the travelling support no end.
But the failure of Adam Idah to capitalise on another start and score did not go entirely unnoticed following a hard-fought 5-2 triumph which edged the visitors a little closer to a fourth consecutive Scottish title.
Idah has pitched in with no fewer than 13 goals in all competitions, including three in the Champions League league phase, during the 2024/25 campaign and gone some way towards justifying the £8.5m transfer fee which it took to land him from Norwich City in the summer.
Yet, the Republic of Ireland internationalist, who was back in his homeland today to help Celtic promote their friendly match against Cork City at the SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh on July 8, has still to establish himself as an automatic first team starter at Parkhead.
Even with Kyogo Furuhashi departing for Rennes in France in a £10m move back in January.
Daizen Maeda, who took his personal tally for the season to 27 with a late effort at the SMiSA Stadium at the weekend, is probably ahead of him in the pecking order even though his preferred position is out on the wing.
Idah confessed that ultimately he wants to be involved from kick-off every week. However, he also hailed the influence that Luke McCowan, Yang Hynu-jun and Jota had exerted when they came on against St Mirren and argued the strength of the squad is a huge factor in Celtic’s success.
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“It was a difficult game at the weekend,” he said. “St Mirren are a really tough side. They're very physical and the pitch wasn't great, so we probably couldn't play our best football. The manager was right, the win was a defining moment in our season.
“To get a result like that there was great for us. The first half was really tough. To be fair to the boys that have come on in the second half, they did brilliant and won us the game.
“I think every footballer wants to play a game from the start of the match and if you get to do that great. But I think we've seen throughout this whole season that the starting XI changes all the time.
“I think that's why we've been so good. The selection of players we've got has been fantastic. I've said it before, if I start the game or if I'm on the bench, I'm going to give it my all regardless.”
The 6ft 3in 24-year-old stressed that he and all of his team mates will, despite moving 16 points clear of their nearest challengers Rangers in the William Hill Premiership on Saturday evening, continue to give everything in the coming weeks as they pursue a world record ninth domestic treble.
“The aim for the rest of the season is to do what we've been doing this whole time and try and win each and every game,” he said. “Take each game as it comes, hopefully finish the season on a high. But we haven't thought that far ahead yet. We want to win every game and it's been like that since the start of the season.
Idah added: “We focus on ourselves a lot. We're not looking at the league table. We want to do what we want to do and that's to finish at the top of the table at the end of the day. So, yeah, we focus on ourselves and not on everyone else.
“To be fair, breaking the 100 points barrier is not even being talked about. Of course, you want to finish with the most points possible. But it's something that's not really that important. The main goal obviously is to win trophies. Hopefully from now on we can win each and every game. That'll be the main goal for us.
“The manager’s message is to do what we've been doing all season, work hard, stay focused, take each game as it comes and hopefully finish the season on a high.”
Idah and his Celtic team mates have a rare midweek without a game this week. They return to action in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hibernian, who beat them in the league at Easter Road last month, at home on Sunday.
The striker netted a last-minute winner against Rangers in the final last season and is determined to savour more cup glory come May. However, he knows his team will have to hit top form against opponents who moved into third place in the top flight table at the weekend with an Edinburgh derby win over Hearts in Leith in order to book a semi-final place at Hampden.
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“They're up there with the best we’ve played against this season, I think,” he said. “There's no doubt that the Hibs are a fantastic team. They've won so many games now and they're a really good side.
“We didn't have a great game the last time we played them. We were poor that game and we know ourselves that we can be a lot better. The game now coming up will be an exciting one and we are ready for it.
“I'm really looking forward to playing in the Scottish Cup again. How it ended last season was probably one of the best moments I've had in my career. So it's an exciting one for me.”
The prospect of playing for Celtic in his home town against his boyhood heroes Cork City in the Cork Super Cup this summer is a hugely appealing one for Idah as well.
“I haven’t played in Cork since I was 15,” he said. “I didn't think I'd ever come back and play here. So to come back in the summer is going to be brilliant. Everyone's really looking forward to it. It will be amazing.
“There's obviously a massive Celtic fan base in Cork so it'll be like a home game. It'll be really cool to have the Cork fans and the Celtic fans. It'll be a bit of a strange one because I think everyone will be supporting both sides. But it'll be a fantastic day.”
