Brendan Rodgers praises ex-Ireland U21 star set to declare for Northern Ireland after goal against Celtic
Ronan Hale slotted home a penalty at the second time of asking to give Ross County the lead against the Hoops
Brendan Rodgers heaped praise on former Republic of Ireland U21 striker Ronan Hale after watching the Belfast man score against Celtic on Sunday.
Hale slotted home a penalty at the second time of asking to give Ross County the lead against the Hoops in Dingwall. Kasper Schmeichel saved his initial spot kick but it was ordered to be retaken, with the goalkeeper alleged to have come off his line early.
The ex-Cliftonville player also came close to lobbing the Danish international from distance in what would have been another memorable goal for his scrapbook. However, goals from Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn saw Celtic run out 2-1 winners as they maintained their 100% start to the domestic season.
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Rodgers couldn't resist a joke about Hale, who is in the process of switching his international allegiance to Northern Ireland, after the game. He said: “I was just more surprised that Ronan scored against Celtic. I said to him, I just said to him, ‘are you scoring against Celtic? A Celtic boy!”
The Celtic boss backed Hale to shine for Michael O'Neill's side, adding: "I'm glad they've got a boy from Belfast who Michael O’Neill can call upon.
“Normally he can't. It's great for him. He's obviously done great back home at Cliftonville. He's come over at a good age with good experience. And he's shown here, like we've seen his goal against Hearts, which is a brilliant finish.
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“So he shows he can score goals. And games like this will help him in his career. But delighted for him and Michael that, as I said, he can call him up. And if you've got a finisher at an international level like him, then hopefully he can do really well.
“He's made a great start to his life in Scotland. Overall, Don Cowie’s had a really, really good start this season to his career and managing. And thankfully we produced a really good second half to get the result.”
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