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Personal
Born: 23 February 1989
Birthplace: Bailieborough, County Cavan, Ireland
Signed: 10 Feb 2006 (youth)
Left: 13 Aug 10 (to CSKA Sofia)
Position: Striker, Centre-forward
Debut: Celtic v Inv Caledonian Scottish Cup, Feb 2007
Squad no.:
Internationals: Rep of Ireland
International Caps: 3
International Goals: 0
Biog
The young lanky (6ft 5″) striker – who represented his county at minor level in Gaelic Football and was given an offer to go to Aussie Rules side Brisbane Lions – made an instant impression with the Bhoys at both under 19 and reserve team level finding the back of the net on a regular basis.
His rapid rise was capped on 25th February 2007 when he came off the bench to make his first team debut as Celtic came from behind to win a Scottish Cup tie at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Just days later the young Irishman agreed a new three year contract with the club and in October 2008 he made his Champions League bow as a substitute for Scott McDonald at Manchester United. He made his first start for the Bhoys on November 5th and netted in a 4-2 win over Hibernian.
In early 2009 the Irishman went on loan to Motherwell in a bid to gain experience of regular first-team football and he produced some solid performances for the Fir Park club. In August that year, with Tony Mowbray now installed as Parkhead boss, Sheridan went on loan again – this time to English Championship side Plymouth Argyle. When the Argyle manager was moved upstairs to the boardroom he found himself somewhat out in the cold with new manager Paul Mariner. However, in January 2010 he joined St Johnstone on a loan deal to the end of the 2009-10 season.
Lots of experience, but difficult to convince anyone of his ability it seemed.
In May 2010 Sheridan made his senior international debut for Ireland in a friendly match against Paraguay at the RDS in Dublin. He gained a further 2 caps that summer against Algeria and Argentina.
With opportunities becoming increasingly difficult at Celtic Park, Cillian moved to Bulgaria and signed a 3 year deal with CSKA Sofia in August 2010.
He had overall a good short run with Celtic when given the opportunity but was not seen as likely to make the full claim as a first team regular.
Later moved to Kilmarnock, and now sporting a bearded look, he scored for his club to help them in a 2-0 win against Celtic at Parkhead for the first team in around 55 years, making him popular with the Killie fans. A great victory for them coming only a few days after Celtic had competed gallantly in the Champions League v Barcelona garnering plenty of plaudits.
He was to be quite a traveller: CSKA Sofia (Hungary), Apoel (Cyprus), Omonia (Cyprus), Jagiellonia Bialystok (Poland), Wellignton Phoenix (NZ), Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Israel) and Wisła Płock (Poland). He ended up back in Scotland playing for Dundee, and played in a comprehensive 6-0 defeat by Celtic at Celtic Park in August 2021
[TBC].
Post-Celtic, apparently he became a bit of a ‘planker’ (i.e. the fitness exercise for the back and stomach muscles):
“Planking is a craze. You take a picture and then stick it on twitter. It had passed me by but when I heard about it in the summer, me and Jody Morris thought we’d take it up.We’ve been doing this everywhere – even on our recent team golf day – and I had been thinking about the plank as a goal celebration.”
We wish him the best.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (subs) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2006-10 | 6(8) | 0(1) | 0(1) | 1 (2) | 7(12) |
| Goals: | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | 4 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Premier League
Scottish Cup
| KDS Honours | ||
| MOTM Winners 2008-09 | ||
| 12-Nov-08 | Celtic 3-0 Killie | SPL |
Pictures
Links
- Sheridan signs for CSKA Sofia (Aug 10)
Sheridan gets Celtic seal of approval
Irish Examiner, 2007.
Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan showed with one small but important contribution to the Parkhead side’s Tennent’s Scottish Cup comeback against Inverness Caledonian Thistle that the Hoops’ comprehensive scouting system continues to unearth promising youngsters for manager Gordon Strachan.
Sheridan, from Cavan in Ireland, only turned 18 on Friday and few travelling fans at the Tulloch Caledonian stadium would have known anything about him as he replaced Mark Wilson with 16 minutes to go with the visitors trailing to Graham Bayne’s first-half opener.
However, after defender Steven Pressley dramatically levelled the score with an 89th-minute header, the Irishman set up Kenny Miller to score the winner deep into injury time.
Celtic under-19 coach Joe McBride described Sheridan rise through the Parkhead ranks as “spectacular”.
He said: “Cillian’s rise has been spectacular and he has really caught the eye.
“He’s only been at Celtic since last summer. We took him to Villarreal with the youth team just after he came and he did okay but since the league started he has been great.
“He has been scoring all sorts of goals, from blistering shots from outside the box to tap-ins.
“He has improved with every game and even scored two for the reserves when he moved up to play for them against Motherwell.
“Cillian is the one player we have who is similar, in some ways, to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, that’s perhaps why the manager has taken him.
“I don’t know if we‘ve lost him to the first team now but he can play with the under-19s for another season.
“It’s a double edged-sword, it would be good to keep him for our team but it would be nice to lose him to the first team, that’s what we are here for.”
He said: “He is basically a shy and quiet guy but you could say he is a typical Irishman.
“On one of the bus journeys in Villarreal we tried to get a sing-song going among the boys but no-one would get up. But once Cillian got up, there was no getting him down again.
“I hope he makes it as a footballer because he will never make it as a singer.”
Inverness manager Charlie Christie was still reeling from Celtic’s remarkable comeback.
He said: “We did have some tired legs, maybe because of the possession Celtic had but we defended well and they never looked like getting back. But it just wasn’t to be for us.”
© Irish Examiner, 2007. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH
The Irish Examiner
St Johnstone goal ace Cillian Sheridan: I’ll give plank celebration the chop
CILLIAN SHERIDAN admits he has been a bit of a planker. It’s not just the oddball goal celebrations produced by the whacky St Johnstone loan star.
dailyrecord
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/st-johnstone-goal-ace-cillian-1082964
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CILLIAN SHERIDAN admits he has been a bit of a planker.
It’s not just the oddball goal celebrations produced by the whacky St Johnstone loan star.
The second-time-around Saint – who opened his Perth account with a double to see off Hearts – believes he has really nailed the moustache look.
After breaking his duck against the Tynecastle side, Sheridan opted for an unusual celebration, sprawling head down on the McDiarmid turf.
The ex-Celt, lured to Perth from Bulgarian outfit CSKA Sofia, explained: “Planking is a craze. You take a picture and then stick it on twitter.
“It had passed me by but when I heard about it in the summer, me and Jody Morris thought we’d take it up.
“We’ve been doing this everywhere – even on our recent team golf day – and I had been thinking about the plank as a goal celebration.
“I didn’t tell anyone because I don’t like preplanning things like that. I just decided to go for it.
“But I’ll not be using it as a celebration again. Once is enough.”
The Republic of Ireland international, who was on trial for Hibs and scored against East Fife in a preseason friendly before clinching a loan move to Saints, lapped up his first goals against Hearts.
He said: “The manager, Derek McInnes, was happy with the way I was playing but strikers want goals.
“Me and Fran Sandaza have had a good few games together now. We know how one another plays now and we’re linking up well.
“We’re not going to play brilliantly and score every week but I owe a lot to the manager for sticking with me through all the games I wasn’t scoring.
“Other managers might not have persisted with me but he said goals would come and they did.”
After seeing off Celtic and Motherwell on the road, Sheridan is hoping to complete a hat-trick of wins against clubs he has been involved with at Easter Road tonight.
He added: “It won’t act as extra motivation but it would certainly be nice to get another good away win.
“I was only at Hibs for about 10 days on trial. It never came to the stage where I was offered the chance to sign for them because it was between Sofia and Hibs.
“All I’m thinking about is getting another win for St Johnstone.”
But Sheridan has bemused his McDiarmid team-mates by growing a moustache.
He deadpanned: “Because I’m one of the younger ones in the dressing room I didn’t think I was getting enough respect.
“I thought I would get it with a moustache and I’ve gone for the distinguished look.
“I think it’s worked. The boys are starting to take notice of me. I think it will stay for the Hibs game then I’ll see after that. It’s grown on me.
“In Bulgaria, I got a tattoo of a moustache done on my finger.
“A friend from Ireland and I had it done when he was over in my first couple of months there. It was absolute agony.
“It was just for a laugh, I can hide it when I need to.
“The boys in Bulgaria loved it. I don’t know if they got my sense of humour, though. It was pretty hard to get it through in the translation.”