WHEN SCOTTISH STRIKER Lewis Morrison made his first-team debut for Kilmarnock in front of a crowd of over 53,000 at Parkhead, he didn’t anticipate that he’d still be waiting to score his first goal in senior football 20 months later.
At the age of 17, Morrison was introduced from the bench for the final 11 minutes of a 6-1 defeat to Celtic in September 2016. He hoped it would mark the beginning of a regular run of games in the Killie side, but it turned out to be his only appearance for the club.
The Scotland U17 international was released at the end of the season, and after a disappointing six-month spell at St Mirren, he moved to Sligo Rovers in January.
Morrison had to be patient in his pursuit of opportunities in the SSE Airtricity League, starting just one of Sligo’s first 17 Premier Division games. However, having been given the nod by Gerard Lyttle in their last three outings, he opened his account last weekend.
“My phone has been going non-stop with messages since the goal,” says Morrison, who doubled his side’s lead in their 2-0 win away to Derry City. “I had a few chances against Shams and Limerick so I was starting to wonder if the goal would ever come. Thankfully it finally did so I was well happy.”
In October 2016, just a couple of weeks after he played at Celtic Park, Morrison was named by the Daily Record as one of the 11 best prospects playing in the SPFL’s Development League, which is contested by the U20 teams at Scotland’s professional clubs.
“Playing at Celtic Park was surreal,” he says. “It was one of those situations where you don’t realise how lucky you were until maybe two or three weeks later. It’s crazy even now to look back and see the players I played against.
“The likes of Scott Brown, you don’t appreciate when you’re watching them on TV just how good they are. I grew up as a Rangers fan so Celtic Park was the second-best place I could have made my debut.”
Morrison is candid in his assessment of why his career didn’t take off immediately after he shared the pitch with the likes of Brown, Moussa Dembele and Tom Rogic. He was hampered by an ankle injury at one stage, but he admits that improvements needed to be made off the pitch in order to increase his prospects of succeeding on it.
“Horrendous,” is how he describes the period between his debut against Celtic and his switch to the League of Ireland. “I had an ankle injury which kept me out for a while, and then I went on loan to my local junior team just to try and get back fit.
“Things just weren’t going well then at St Mirren. My agent knows the gaffer here [at Sligo] and he asked me if I fancied it. It was probably a good time for me to get away from Scottish football and give it a try. It’s nice and quiet here, which is what I needed.
“I wasn’t getting into trouble or anything, but back home in Scotland I probably wasn’t looking after myself well enough in terms of eating the right stuff and gym sessions. Over here I can just train and chill for the rest of the day. It’s easy enough for me and it’s keeping me happy. I feel like I’ve come on leaps and bounds since coming here.”
He may still be a newcomer to Irish football, but having been inspired by Shamrock Rovers attacker Graham Burke’s rise to the international stage, Morrison is keen to capitalise on the opportunities on offer in the SSE Airtricity League.
He says: “When you see Graham Burke going on to play for Ireland, it shows you what’s possible in this league. But I’m obviously just concentrating on trying to carry on the momentum at Sligo for now.
“My confidence has been building and I’ve been on cloud nine after scoring last weekend. Hopefully I can keep helping the team like that and you’d never know where that will take you.”
On the back of an undefeated run of three games in which they haven’t conceded a goal, Sligo will be aiming to move further away from the relegation zone when they welcome champions and leaders Cork City to the Showgrounds on Saturday evening.
“Obviously it’s not going to be an easy game against them. We gave them a good enough game in Cork earlier in the season but we lost after conceding a sloppy goal,” says Morrison, who turned 19 in March.
“We know we can match them if we turn up. With the way training is going over the last week and with the momentum we have, we’re hopeful of a good result.”
