Football: Young Celtic fan with Down syndrome wins Scottish Goal of the Month award

Jay Beatty may be only 11, but the young Celtic superfan has just won the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) Goal of the Month for January.

Little Jay - who has Down syndrome - first made headlines when then-Celtic striker Georgios Samaras plucked him out of the crowd to join in the festivities during the club's title celebrations in 2014.

Jay then got the chance to take a penalty during the half-time period of a Celtic match against Hamilton on Jan 17, and he duly executed his spot kick with style (watch from the 2:10 mark in the video below).

That effort was nominated for the SPFL's monthly competition, which Jay won with a record 97 per cent of the fans' votes, the SPFL said on its website.

Big-hearted Samaras - now playing in Saudi Arabia - took the time to record a video message for Jay, telling him that he'd won while saying: "Great job, I miss you and I love you."

Jay himself was elated at hearing the news of his victory.

His father Martin thanked the fans whose votes helped make Jay's day: "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."

dshea@sph.com.sg

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.