A US priest has spoken of his shock receiving messages on his social media site congratulating him on signing for Celtic.

Father Michael Duffy, from New York, shares the same name as the young Derry City winger who has just signed for the Scottish champions.

While the two men are different in many ways, the only thing that separates the names on social networking site Twitter is an underscore.

It has led to confusion with football fans accidentally messaging him directly.

Fr Duffy said: "I started receiving congratulations messages from people in Ireland.

"I was looking at their names and thought, my goodness, I don't know who these people are and why they're congratulating me.

"I finally found out that the other Michael Duffy signed with the Celtic - I've never in my life before been confused with a professional athlete, so it was a first for me.

"My Twitter handle @michaelduffy while his @michaelduffy_ with an underscore after it."

Fr Duffy is a priest at St Kilian's church in Farmingdale on Long Island. He said he had never heard of Celtic or Derry City before the mix-up.

He said: "I only watch soccer if it happens to be at the World cup or if someone else is watching it, but here in New York we have a lot of international priests coming to us from Ghana or South America, so I'd watch a game with them.

"I had never heard of the team, but I'm proud to have a Duffy on it. It's given me a reason to follow them."

The real-life footballer Michael Duffy, 20, signed for Celtic earlier this week for an undisclosed fee after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms.

The Northern Ireland Under-21 international had impressed during two trial spells at Celtic Park.

Fr Duffy he says he wishes the young footballer well and congratulated him on achieving his boyhood dream of playing for Celtic.

He added: "We're proud to be Duffys today."