THEY have come through the same system, and will share the same pitch this afternoon. And while Dan Casey is the elder of the two, the Motherwell defender can’t help but be inspired by the rise of former clubmate Liam Scales.
Both Casey and the Celtic centre-back played youth football with St Joseph’s in their homeland, with Scales the year below Casey in their set-up, and though their paths rarely crossed back then, their varying career trajectories have often intersected.
Having faced each other in the League of Ireland and now in the Scottish Premiership, Casey is hoping that one day he might be able to line up alongside Scales for his country, with his emergence from the fringes of the Celtic squad into the starting XI and subsequently, the Republic of Ireland squad, showing Casey what is possible.
“He actually played for the same schoolboy team as me, but he was a year younger,” Casey said.
“I didn’t really come across him much, you play with your own age when you’re younger.
“But he’s flying, he’s doing brilliant, and it shows you that once he got a chance there, he has kicked on, and fair play to him.
“It just shows you if you are doing well up in Scotland what opportunities there are.
“He’s at Celtic now, the best team in the country, so with him doing well there I think he well deserves to be in the Irish squad.”
If the international break provided some respite for the Motherwell squad from the dire run of form they have been suffering through, then a visit to Celtic Park is quite the welcome back to action.
But Casey is hoping that the rest will have done Motherwell the world of good, allowing them to reset and reconnect with both family and with one another as they now look to get back on track.
“It came at the right time for us,” he said.
“We have been going through a rough patch, so the fact we got a couple of days off and we got to go and see family, that was nice.
“We trained hard during the period that we got together, but that maybe came at a good time for us, and just allowed us to refocus and go again. We’re ready now for this big run of games.
“I went to visit a few friends and my sister down in London. I got two days down there which was nice just to get away from football for a few days.
“With every break you take, you come back even hungrier and dying to get back playing again, so I think it was good for everybody.
“We had a day [when we came back] where we got some takeaway and played some pool, darts and stuff.
“Doing that as a group definitely brings us closer. We’re all mates down there, it’s a good changing room, and things like that only bring us closer.
“When you’re mates off the pitch, I think that makes you stronger on the pitch.”
That being said, it will take more than a bit of fraternal camaraderie to come away with a result this afternoon, but Casey takes heart from the draw Motherwell managed at this venue back in April, and the way that his side have competed against both Celtic and Rangers more recently.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said.
“I don’t think many people will be giving us a chance going into this game, but we know what we can do as a group. If we get things right, I’m sure we can get a result.
“It’s going to be tough, I think it’s probably the hardest place to go in the league, especially with the way Celtic are playing at the minute.
“They are doing very well, so I think it’s going to be a very hard game for us, but if we follow our game plan then we showed last year that we can get a result there.
“There’s not going to be much fear in the changing room, knowing that we can get a result.
“I think we done well against Celtic and Rangers in that period [of nine games without a win], but we didn’t get a result, so that doesn’t really matter at the end of the day.
“That was the problem, we were playing well for a good few games, but we weren’t getting results.
“Now we need to bring them both together, the results and the performances, and hopefully we’ll start going up the league.”
The other major topic of conversation around Motherwell this week has centred upon the possibility of Kevin van Veen returning to the club, after the former Fir Park hero made it clear this week that he would like a move back to Scotland, having failed to settle at FC Groningen.
It goes without saying that Casey would love to see that happen, and he might look to twist the arm of his old teammate when the winter window opens.
“Listen, we’d all love Kev back, but we can’t control that as players,” he said.
“If he is coming back to Scotland then I’d rather be passing him the ball than tackling him!
“Everyone knows how good Kev was for us, and all the fans love him here. It would be great to see him back, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
“I get on very well with Kev. He was good around the place, and he obviously helped us as a team, so if he was to come back it would be great.
“I haven’t been on the Whatsapp to him yet, maybe a bit closer to January, we’ll see!”
