Friday 20 February 2015 12:25, UK
Celtic fan Jay Beatty has been named as the overwhelming winner of the SPFL's latest Goal of the Month competition after taking 97 per cent of the vote.
The 11-year-old, who has Down's Syndrome, won the prize after he scored a penalty at half-time during the recent game between Ronny Deila's side and Hamilton.
Jay, from County Armagh, first came to the attention of Celtic supporters during the Scottish Premiership side's title celebrations at the end of last season.
Jay my friend, me and you are the same now, scoring goals. I’m very happy to announce you won the Goal of the Month. Well done pal.
His favourite player Georgios Samaras - who moved to West Brom soon after and is now on loan to Saudi side Al-Hilal - picked him out of the crowd and brought him on to the pitch.
Neil Lennon, the current Bolton manager, also gave Jay his medal and the youngster has since received a trophy on behalf of Samaras at the Grand Gala of El Mundo Deportivo.
He has also cheered on the Greek player at the World Cup finals in Brazil and enjoyed a visit to watch La Liga side Barcelona in Spain.
On January 17, Jay was Hamilton's guest of honour for their home league fixture against Celtic and he was invited into the away dressing room to give Deila’s side a team talk.
'Memorable'
They went on to win 2-0 through goals from Adam Matthews and Liam Henderson but the most memorable moment from the game came at half-time.
Jay was introduced to fans and took a penalty, scoring it then celebrating to applause from both sets of supporters, who also sang his name.
Hamilton graciously announced the score as being 3-0 on their Twitter account and the SPFL consequently included the penalty among its 10 contenders for its January monthly prize.
One of Celtic defender Mikael Lustig’s two goals against Motherwell was one of the other nine but the club encouraged people to overlook that in favour of Jay.
They duly obliged, with the video of his goal becoming the fifth most watched of all time on the SPFL’s YouTube channel.
He was announced as the winner in a video message recorded by Samaras, who also took a penalty and scored before running to the camera.
Samaras said: "Jay my friend, me and you are the same now, scoring goals. I'm very happy to announce you won the Goal of the Month. Well done pal. Great job, I miss you and I love you."
Lennon also offered his congratulations, adding: “He’s a very special boy. We’ve known him for a number of years and he’s actually from my home town in Lurgan.
“He’s such a warm human being and he just loves football. He has formed a very special relationship with Georgios and it just seems to have grown arms and legs.
“He has been in Greece receiving an award from the Greek FA and in Spain picking up an award over there.
“It’s a fantastic story and you can’t help but like him with his infectious personality. Congratulations Jay, we’re very, very proud of you.”
Jay's father, Martin Beatty, thanked the thousands of football fans who voted for his goal.
He said: "Not many of us get to live our dreams and Jay is getting to live all our dreams. Thank you to everyone for making this possible - we are so grateful and proud."
