Injury worry for captain Brown as Celtic put nine past Shamrock Rovers
Celtic have a fresh injury fear ahead of next week's Champions League opener after Scott Brown limped off during their 9-0 thrashing of Shamrock Rovers.
Celtic have a fresh injury fear ahead of next week's Champions League opener after Scott Brown limped off during their 9-0 thrashing of Shamrock Rovers.
The Hoops have already lost Dedryck Boyata for the next three months after he ruptured knee ligaments in last week's warm-up clash with Slavia Prague.
And there are now fears skipper Brown could also miss Friday's crunch qualifier with Linfield in Belfast after lasting barely half an hour at the Tallaght Stadium.
The Scotland midfielder was replaced by Nir Bitton after 32 minutes and trudged down the tunnel at half-time with his knee heavily strapped, leaving Brendan Rodgers to pray his influential captain has not suffered lasting damage.
That injury worry aside, Celtic were utterly untroubled as they swatted the Dubliners aside.
Mikael Lustig fired them ahead with a composed finished before Stuart Armstrong doubled the Parkhead side's advantage.
Moussa Dembele - making his first appearance since injuring his hamstring in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final - and Scott Sinclair then got themselves on the scoresheet before the break.
And second-half goals from James Forrest, Sinclair, Armstrong, Jonny Hayes and Tom Rogic completed a resounding win.
Rodgers told Celtic TV after the match: “His (Brown's) Achilles was a little bit sore and we just need to asses that over the next couple of days, but nothing too serious I don't think, but we will see how that is.