Matt O’Riley really seems to be the perfect team-mate.
On the park he scores goals and creates them, off it he is laid back but drive, enjoying the successes of team-mates as they chase a common goal.
Against St Johnstone on Saturday the Danish midfielder put Celtic in front in the 78th minute with a fantastic strike to round off a great team move, last night he powered in a header not long before half-time to snuff out any hope that Hibs had of regrouping after the break.
At the age of 23 O’Riley seems incredibly balanced and mature, before the Hibs match he spoke openly about how the benefits of pilates, how it gave him an edge and the small margins that impact on sport.
Two years ago O’Riley was playing in League One at MK Dons, taking the bold step out of the Fulham set up to get his foot on the ladder even if it was towards the bottom rung in the EFL.
Celtic have reaped the benefit of that with the 23-year-old clearly appreciating the work that Oh Hyeon-gyu puts in on the training ground with some dividents last night.
It can’t be easy knowing that your rival for a starting place is being compared to Henrik Larsson or that some fans believe you are a big step down on last year’s hero Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Being on a different continent, in a cold and often bleak climate isn’t the easiest choice to make but with five SPFL goals this season from just two starting appearances Oh is starting to progress his Celtic career.
Apart from John Hartson and Chris Sutton big physical strikers haven’t been the way of it at Celtic but there is more to Oh than a physical threat.
Last night’s goals demonstrated that there is variety to Oh’s play, anything inside the six yard box is welcome for a striker, given half a chance in the second half he wasn’t going to let Will Fish or anything else prevent him from finding the net as he put Celtic 4-0 in front.
In recent weeks it has appeared like the Celtic squad ad been shrinking down to barely beyond 11 players, against Hibs Oh and Tomoki Iwata demonstrated that they have big contributions to make in the weeks ahead.
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