MARK Connolly is sporting four stitches in a fresh wound in his eyebrow.
It isn't the best look to adorn your family photos at this time of year, and the manner in which the Kilmarnock centre-half acquired the injury does little to polish his hard-man image.
Rather than resulting from any of his robust challenges in the New Year's Day battle with St Mirren in Paisley, the erstwhile Kilmarnock captain was injured in an accidental collision with John McGinn.
He had his eyes closed, facing away from the action for fear of Alexei Eremenko missing a spot-kick. "I don't like watching penalties," the 23-year-old said. "So I put my head down, McGinn was standing there and I heard everyone roaring so I knew we had scored. He moved over, I looked up and bang - he's got a strong head! I'm going to have to go home and tell everyone he called me a name."
Back-to-back wins against Hamilton Academical and St Mirren have got the Rugby Park side back on track after an eight-match winless run, meaning they host Celtic with a degree of confidence tomorrow night. It is a big match for everyone at the club, but none more so than Connolly, 23, from County Monaghan, some of whose Celtic-supporting family are over from Scotland for the festivities.
"Where I'm from there are a few Celtic fans around but I supported Arsenal when I was younger," Connolly said. "My job is to get a result for Kilmarnock and I will be trying everything to get that result. The family were over for New Year so they'll be at the Monday game and then fly home on Tuesday. My dad and his brother-in-law will go, but there's no divided loyalties - it's Kilmarnock on Monday. No matter who I play for, that's who they'll be supporting."
The circumstances of the match are unusual, with the Parkhead side already sure to be trailing Aberdeen when kick-off approaches, but Connolly doesn't fear an onslaught.
The Rugby Park side still want to fulfil their early-season promise as a top-six outfit and the Irishman takes heart from the first meeting of the season, which ended in a 2-0 defeat but was goalless until the dismissal of Manuel Pascali just after the half-hour mark. "It's unusual to be playing Celtic with them needing to win to get back on top of the league at this time of year," Connolly said. "But I don't think that really makes it harder for us because it doesn't matter who we are playing - Celtic or St Mirren - we need to get results as much as they do.
"We want to get into the top six and they are obviously up there to win the league. It's going to be a tricky game, but hopefully an upset can be on the cards. We totally take encouragement from the points Celtic have been dropping.
"Obviously I'm new to the league, I've only come up this year, but I don't fear anyone. Okay, we've been beaten by Celtic already and Rangers in the Scottish Cup, but I don't fear playing them and I don't think anyone else should right now.
"At Parkhead, we started quite well and then Pascali got sent off. It's difficult enough with 11 men there but we defended quite well with 10 and were a bit unlucky … hopefully with 11 men on Monday we can change that result."
Connolly has proved an excellent addition to the Scottish game this season, his stint at Rugby Park already progressing better than a loan spell at St Johnstone in 2010. The formative years of the Irishman's career were at Bolton after a £1 million move from Wolves as a teenager, and he still closely monitors events at the Reebok Stadium.
"They have an Irishman in there now who has them working harder," Connolly said. "Even when I was there, there was no question they had some excellent players, but Neil Lennon has come in and done a great job. It is a massive club and I have a feeling they will push on, maybe not this season, but next season I feel they can get back to the Premier League."
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