Part Of The Celtic Family

Former professional referee, Dermot Gallagher’s love of the Hoops is a gift that his Dad passed on to him

- Paul Cuddihy

IT is Wednesday, April 15, 1970 and young Dermot Gallagher is just over a month away from becoming a teenager.

He’s not thinking about his birthday on this night, however, nor are his thoughts of back home in Dublin or the school lessons he is missing.

Instead, he is standing with his Dad on the sloped terraces of Hampden, part of a gathering that is creating

European football history. The father and son are just two figures in a sea of bodies – officially recorded at 136,505, but that could have been, and probably was, even higher. Thousands more were locked outside.

The occasion was the European Cup semi-final second leg between Celtic and Leeds United. The first leg at Elland Road had finished 1-0 in Celtic’s favourite, thanks to George Connelly’s goal inside the opening minute.

Now, Jock Stein’s side stood just 90 minutes away from a second appearance in a European Cup final in three years.

For 12-year-old Dermot Gallagher, the trip from Dublin to Glasgow was an early 13th birthday present, which was special enough. The fact that it was his first ever Celtic game made it all the more significant.

Fast forward 50 years, and that night remains as vivid in Gallagher’s mind as if it had only happened last week.

“I can remember when Celtic equalised just after half-time – I’m short now, but you can imagine what I was like back then because I was a month short of my 13th birthday,” the former professional referee told the Celtic View.