Youth Cup Final: Celtic 8 - 0 Queen of the South

CALLUM McGregor scored a hattrick as Celtic’s youth team put eight goals past Queen of the South at Hampden tonight.

Stephen Frail included three players who have been on the fringes of the first team squad this season, with Czech midfielder Filip Twardzik joining Dylan McGeouch and defender Marcus Fraser in the starting lineup.

Tony Watt, who capped an impressive debut with two goals against Motherwell at the weekend missed out through suspension, and watched the game from the stands.

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Celtic got off to the perfect start with Twardzik scoring after only 60 seconds, bundling the ball home after it rebounded off the crossbar, but Celtic were unable to add to that until the half hour mark, captain Jackson Irvine making it 2-0 with a well-taken effort from McGeouch’s corner.

Celtic suffered a blow when Twardzik was stretchered off after 37 minutes, with James Alabi replacing him. Just before half time, however, Celtic doubled their lead with two goals in two minutes, Dylan McGeouch making it three before Callum McGregor scored Celtic’s fourth and his first from the penalty spot after Darnel Fisher had been fouled.

If it had been one-way traffic in the first half, the second was no different, with McGregor sending an effort narrowly over. Liam Gormley then saw his header come back off the crossbar, as Queens made a change, replacing Liam Park with Robbie Valance, before John Herron added a fifth with 25 minutes still to play. McGeouch added to his tally shortly after, putting Celtic six goals up with a deflected shot, before making way for Bosnian striker Bahrudin Ataji.

Striker Liam Gormley was then replaced by Lewis Kidd, with Queens also changing things round, bringing on Ross Gray and Josh Simpson for Scott Hooper and Shaun Handling.

Alabi’s cross-cum-shot was poked home by McGregor as the onslaught continued, and the midfielder sealed his hattrick from the penalty spot five minutes from time, after Alabi was brought down in the box, giving Celtic a third league and cup double in as many seasons.