Cheers to Patrick's Record-Breaking Celtic Glory!
Hail Glorious Celts' Patrick Today, March 17, is Saint Patrick's Day, and there have been 32 players with the Christian name of Ireland’s patron saint who have, over the past 138 years, played for Celtic. They have ranged from the likes of Paddy Trodden, who made just one appearance for the club back in 1895 to Packie Bonner, who played 641 times for Celtic, the fifth highest in the club’s history. The Celtic great was Jock Stein’s last signing for the club and actually made his first-team debut on St Patrick’s Day in 1979 in a 2-1 league win over Motherwell at Celtic Park.
Within this list, Patsy Gallacher is another notable stand-out. With 192 goals in 464 appearances, he is Celtic’s sixth-top goalscorer of all-time, while his 15-year career with the Hoops – many believed it should have been longer – brought a whole raft of silverware to Celtic Park. The most recent ‘Patrick’ came in the shape of Patryk Klimala, who is the furthest flung when it comes to his birthplace.
Although, with 32 Patricks, we have one for each county in Ireland, only five are from across the water – Packie Bonner, Patsy Gallacher, Paddy McCourt, Paddy Turner and Paddy Farrell. The rest of the batch are from Scotland apart from Englishman, Patrick Roberts and Pole, Patryk Klimala. PACKIE BONNER(1978-98)Appearances: 641 PATSY GALLACHER(1911-26)Appearances: 464Goals: 192 PADDY CONNOLLY(1921-32)Appearances: 296Goals: 46 PAT McCLUSKEY(1969-77)Appearances: 189Goals: 12 PAT CRERAND(1957-63)Appearances: 120Goals: 5 PAT McAULAY(1940-41 & 1942-50)Appearances: 222 (incl 113 wartime games)Goals: 27 (incl 23 wartime goals) PADDY McCOURT(2008-13)Appearances: 87Goals: 10 PATRICK ROBERTS(2016-18)Appearances: 79Goals: 18 PAT McGINLAY(1993-94)Appearances: 61Goals: 13 PAT GILHOOLY(1896-91)Appearances: 50Goals: 20 PADDY GALLAGHER(1888-93)Appearances: 45Goals: 1 PAT STANTON(1976-78)Appearances: 44 PADDY TRAVERS(1911-12)Appearances: 22Goals: 6 PAT McDONALD(1942-47)Appearances: 89 (incl 75 wartime games)Goals: 1 (wartime goal) PADDY MURRAY(1902-03)Appearances: 16Goals: 3 PADDY TURNER(1963-64)Appearances: 14Goals: 1 PAT O’SULLIVAN(1945-48)Appearances: 13 PAT McEVOY(1917-21)Appearances: 10 PAT McMAHON(1967-69)Appearances: 6Goals: 5 PATRYK KLIMALA(2020 to date)Appearances: 28Goals: 3 PADDY CORCORAN(1918)Appearances: 3 PADDY GILGUN(1924-25)Appearances: 3Goals: 1 PAT GALLAGHER(1892)Appearances: 2Goals: 1 PAT McCABE(1915)Appearances: 2 PAT BRESLIN(1899)Appearances: 1 PAT DONLEVY(1898)Appearances: 1 PADDY FARRELL(1896-97)Appearances: 1 PAT GEEHRIN(1910-11)Appearances: 1 PADDY KELLY(1995-97)Appearances: 1 PAT POWER(1894-95)Appearances: 1 PAT SLAVEN(1897)Appearances: 1 PADDY TRODDEN(1895)Appearances: 1