Celtic's SPL victory over the Accies on Saturday saw Samaras score either side of an Aiden McGeady strike before Vennegoor of Hesselink wrapped things up with a goal in the 83rd minute, his first since a September brace against Aberdeen. Big Jan's contract is up at the end of the season and the player himself would love to stay at Parkhead, and the manager has made no secret of his great admiration for the big striker, but Frank McGarvey thinks it's time for a parting of the ways.
"It doesn't matter if Vennegoor of Hesselink scores another 10 goals between now and the end of the season, he should go." said McGarvey. "He is injured all the time and always seems to be out for long parts of the season. The same people get injured every season and the same players play most of the games every season."
McGarvey himself was let go by Celtic after scoring a dramatic winning goal against Dundee United in the 1985 Scottish Cup Final and he's adamant that it's now time for the Dutch international forward to depart from Paradise. "Vennegoor of Hesselink is obviously injury-prone and that only gets worse as a player gets older." he said. "So why should Celtic offer him a new contract? Gordon has been praising him, probably to keep his confidence up, but I would have sold him last year."
Co-operative Insurance Cup hero Darren O'Dea was just delighted to see his team-mates rewarded for their hard work and perseverance. "You can see everyone's delighted for them and their hard work has paid off." said the hunskelpin Irishman. "Hopefully they can go on and score many more before the end of the season. They would be key players for us whether they were scoring or not but now that they have done, I'm sure they'll go on and score more goals. Everyone in the team is right behind them. They are great guys to have in the dressing room and they are big characters, even when they are not playing well."
Darren himself is currently enjoying a decent run in the Celtic side albeit in the unfamiliar left-back position. His goal against Rangers set up the victory in the recent Co-Operative Insurance Cup final and he's enjoying a great run in the side at the moment but O'Dea is not taking his place in the team for granted. "I'm enjoying being in the team." he said. "Left back is not my number one position but I'm happy to play anywhere. I've hardly kicked a ball for the last 18 months so it's great to be in the team."
Many Celtic fans partied long into the night following the first Cup Final win over the Huns since 1989 but Darren insists that his celebrations were muted due to the task in hand, the retaining of his place in the team and the pursuit of four-in-a-row. "The realisation kicked in right away that we have a massive title run-in." said O'Dea. "I was just concerned about playing against Dundee United the next week and then again against Hamilton. I'm just looking to keep hold of the jersey for as long as possible."