Brendan Rodgers blanks Rangers for St Patrick's Day 'celebration' as Celtic boss in mood for a party

Brendan Rodgers celebrated St Patrick’s Day by going top of the Premiership. But the Celtic boss is hoping for some of the luck of the Irish when it comes to his players going away on international duty.

Rodgers was thrilled his Celts smashed St Johnstone 3-1 to move one point clear ahead of Rangers ahead of the Ibrox side’s clash in Dundee today before the break for national service. Celts have several key men away and Rodgers admitted he’s praying they all come back in one piece.

His side might lose top spot depending on how Rangers fare against Dundee tomorrow but it will be a day of celebration for Rodgers and he insists he won't have an eye on the result. He told Sky Sports: "It's St Patrick's day tomorrow, there will be a celebration of the Irish community worldwide. I won't have any interest in other results. We did our job today and that's all we can do. We'll have a good day tomorrow."

And he added: “Afterwards we have a few days' work where the guys will train well and train hard and we will have a bounce game that will give some of the guys an opportunity to get some game time. We will have a little bit of recovery and then we will all be back together. We lost Liel Abada and we lost Reo Hatate (on international duty). Big players that make the difference for you.

“Fingers crossed they all come back healthy and we have a strong squad. The only one I spoke to was Gregg (Berhalter) at the US team. We had a good chat. Obviously the case with Cam, who has been out for a bit, I was just worried he would go away and be involved in a couple of games when their big games are more later on in June. We had a good chat and it was decided that he stays behind and does his work for us and tries to remain fit for the rest