Irish round-up: Praise for Idah after Celtic debut while Joe Hodge gets off to a flyer with QPR

Idah came off the bench in Celtic’s league game away to manager-less Aberdeen and made an immediate contribution, claiming an assist for a goal from fellow sub Nicholas Kuhn, but the Dons got back into the game and got a 1-1 draw.

The result which, when combined with a win for Rangers, puts the Ibrox side only three points behind table-toppers Celtic, though Rangers have a game in hand

“They will be very important. In games when you are struggling, we need players like that who can come in and make a difference,” Rodgers said of subs Idah and Kuhn.

“So it was great for Nic to get his first goal, coming inside it takes a slight deflection, but it was on target so that’s good for him and his confidence.

“Adam in his time here can demonstrate his qualities and he gives us that reference at the top end of the pitch and we then had a little bit more of a threat. But we just couldn’t quite make the breakthrough.”

That game was played against the backdrop of protests from the away support at Pittodrie, a cohort of the Celtic fans unhappy with an underwhelming spell of activity in the transfer market before the transfer window closed last week, with boss Rodgers aware of that fan anger.

“I can only concentrate on the players and what we do on the field,” Rodgers said. “You always find that winning games and playing well can ease those situations and that’s what we aim to do. Supporters pay their money and have every right to say what they want to say

"But for us, we can only control what we do on the pitch. If we do that we’ll be OK. The key thing is not allowing it to become a distraction for us. That’s really important. Whatever goes on outside, you have to be able to deal with it.

“At a club like Celtic, at the biggest clubs, there will always be that pressure there. I don’t need to add any more on to the players. They understand that playing for Celtic brings that. My job is to give them the confidence to find the results we need. There’s still a long way to go.”

Former Celtic boss Lennon, who was reportedly interviewed about the vacancy with the Ireland team, had been heavily linked with the Aberdeen job last but weekend reports from Scotland indicate that the Dons board will look to veteran Warnock.

Elsewhere, Ireland U21 cap Joe Hodge has been praised for making an immediate impact after his loan move away from Wolves, where he marked his debut for QPR by netting the winning goal.

Hodge, who only sealed the loan move just before the transfer window closed on Thursday night, came off the bench for QPR 12 minutes into the second half of their league tie away to Blackburn Rovers and scored to make it 2-0, and although Rovers claimed a goal back, relegation-threatened Rangers hung on for the win, thanks to Hodge’s goal, to earn only their second win in two months.

"I'm very happy for Joe. He showed great commitment after being on the bench for Wolves on deadline day to come to London immediately so that he could train with us on Friday,” QPR boss Marti Cifuentes said of the debutant who claimed the first league goal of his career.

“He got his reward and played at a very good level during the minutes he was involved. I'm sure that he is going to be a very important player for us. I'm pleased for the whole team, though. They're all working really hard and showing their commitment every day to improve and succeed for QPR. We know the target in front of us and we know that it's not going to be easy."

Hodge has settled in right away but another Irish loaneee, Michael Obafemi, will need time to bed in during his time on loan to Millwall. Obafemi (23) started for the Lions away to Hull City, his second appearance for the club after a loan move from Burnley, but he lasted only 45 minutes as he was replaced by Tom Bradshaw at the break. Lions boss Joe Edwards said that was a pre-arranged tactic but with so little football played by Obafemi in the last 18 months, he’s planning to take it easy with him

“It was pre-planned that Michael and Tom would play half a game each. Because they’re both in that awkward position where Michael’s played very little football for a very long time, Tom’s just come back from an injury, and they were both in that awkward position where they’re both capable of more than 15-20 minutes at the end so I want to keep building them,” Edwards said.

"And to be fair to Michael, that’s the first game of football he’s started in a long time. So it’s a massive positive for us to get him starting a game and get that bulk of minutes under his belt. And as far as I’m aware, he’s come through it fine.

“Was he at his sharpest and best? No. And I wouldn’t expect that with the run-in he’s had of the last few months. But he’ll better for it. Add to that – in his defence, did we use him as well as we could have? No, we didn’t. We didn’t really look to the front well at all in the first half.”