McCourt magic gives Celtic winning start

INVERNESS (AFP) – A superb solo effort from Paddy McCourt gave Celtic a winning start to their Scottish Premier League title challenge with a 1-0 win at Inverness on Saturday.

Neil Lennon’s side have been forced to play second fiddle to Glasgow rivals Rangers for the last two seasons and the Hoops made a spluttering opening to the season when they were dumped out of the Champions League in the qualifying rounds recently.

Lennon handed McCourt a chance to stake his claim as Aiden McGeady’s long-term replacement after the much-loved midfielder was sold to Spartak Moscow on Friday.

And the big Northern Ireland international seized the day with a fine individual effort in the 56th minute which left Lennon dancing in celebration on the touchline.

Unfortunately for McCourt it proved his last action of the game, the winger being forced off after suffering a head injury while celebrating his goal with Shaun Maloney.

Inverness had the first sight of goal when Adam Rooney caught Kevin McCann’s cross cleanly on the volley, but his shot whistled just wide.

Eric Odhiambo was next to threaten for the hosts as he got on the end of cross to head over from eight yards.

Celtic finally sparked into life when Shaun Maloney raced onto a defence-splitting pass from Georgios Samaras, but the Celtic forward struck a post with only Ryan Esson to beat.

The Hoops back-four were struggling to subdue Rooney and he glanced over after impressive wing play from Nick Ross.

Jonathan Hayes underlined the turmoil in Lennon’s defence as he beat two men to the ball inside the box before helping the ball into the path of Rooney, whose low shot was blocked by Zaluska.

It was Greece striker Samaras who looked the only source of inspiration for Celtic and he saw a header saved from Charlie Mulgrew’s cross before sweeping Marc-Antoine Fortune’s cutback just over the bar.

Samaras then rose to meet Mulgrew’s back-post corner but his downward header was blocked on the line by Ross.

Celtic returned after Lennon’s half-time team-talk with more purpose to their play and Mulgrew almost scored with a free-kick that was pushed over.

Suddenly Celtic were the dominant force and they took the lead in the 56th minute thanks to a typically eye-catching effort from McCourt, who evaded three challenges as he cut in from the left and shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box despite losing his balance.

Despite McCourt leaving the park, there was no end to Celtic’s pressure. Samaras set up Maloney, whose shot again beat Esson but drifted inches wide of the far post with Fortune unable to turn it home.

Celtic were in total control in the closing stages and substitute James Forrest saw a shot tipped wide by Esson.

Forrest then lashed another powerful long-range strike against the bar and Esson saved the rebound from Efrain Juarez.