IT was on St Patrick’s Day in 1979 that a fledgling 18-year-old keeper made his Celtic debut and, rather aptly, the new start was Donegal Bhoy, Pat Bonner.

In this week’s Celtic View, we take a look at what was a memorable St Paddy’s Day for the youngster.

THE BACKGROUND

THE harsh winter of 1978/79 played havoc with the Premier Division schedule and the fixture backlog affected Celtic more than most.

Indeed, in the four weeks between March 28 and April 28 they played no fewer than TEN league games and still had another SIX to cram into the first three weeks of May….

And with regular keeper Peter Latchford already having spent a 10-match period in the shade of understudy Roy Baines, it perhaps wasn’t the best time to let the latter move to Morton.

Baines returned to Cappielow on March 8, though, and when Aberdeen put Celtic out of the Scottish Cup after a replay, manager Billy McNeill was looking for more cover at the back.

Enter Patrick Joseph Bonner who, less than a year earlier, had been Jock Stein’s final signing for Celtic.

And, as destiny would have it, the 18-year-old Donegal Bhoy made his debut for Celtic on St Patrick’s Day 1979.

THE GAME

THE visitors were Motherwell and a crowd of 16,000 saw two goals from veteran Bobby Lennox give the Celts a 2-1 with none other than future Celt, Simon Donnelly’s father, John, scoring for the Steelmen.

The Celtic View at the time though, perhaps harking back to the days of the 1940s and ‘50s when John Bonnar kept goal for the Bhoys, continually spelt the young keeper’s name wrongly.

Under the headline of ‘The Bonnar Bonus’, a shot of Bonner coming out of the tunnel was captioned: “Young keeper Pat Bonnar follows skipper Danny McGrain on to the field.

“It was the Irishman’s first top-team game for Celtic – and a debut he could hardly have imagined only a few days previously.

“But Pat didn’t let the side down and played an important role in Celtic’s league win.

“His appearance was a bonus for the club – for he proved a ready-made stand in and a tribute to the strength of Celtic’s revamped scouting system in Ireland.”

THE REACTION

THE big news of the week in the View was that Celtic were being lined up to play a China XI at the start of the following season but, looking back at the weekend’s win over Motherwell, there was more praise for ‘Bonnar’.

The View carried on: “The Celtic team boss was pleased with Pat Bonnar’s first appearance for the league side against Motherwell.

“He said: ‘He is a young lad who has progressed remarkably since the start of the season, but he is a keeper for the future and will not be rushed.’”

He certainly wasn’t rushed although his second game, just a couple of weeks later was also against Motherwell and this time the Celts won 4-3 in a match that featured a rare Danny McGrain goal!

However, following those two excursions, it was back to the reserves for Pat as Peter Latchford regained the No.1 shorts and did so for the following season.

Celtic kicked off season 1980/81 with a home game against Morton and it would be 11 years before Bonner was finally ousted from between the Celtic sticks.

During that period, injuries had meant only a handful of appearances for Latchford while pretenders to the throne such as Allen McKnight and Ian Andrews would come and go.

STILL TO COME

PAT BONNER would go on to make 641 appearances for Celtic to become the club’s most played goalkeeper – far outstripping the legendary Charlie Shaw who made 436 appearances between 1913 and 1925.

The Irishman is also Celtic’s most capped player with 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland, the first of those coming on his 21st birthday in 1981 against Poland.

On hanging up his gloves, Packie continued to be involved on the international scene in Ireland, working as goalkeeping coach with the Irish senior squad and as the FAI's Technical Director.

For the full article on Packie Bonner, see this week’s Celtic View. It's on sale from Wednesday, March 18.

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IT ALL STARTED HERE: St Patrick’s Day debut for Pat Bonner