The Scotsman - Monday, 17th December 1888, page 9 East Stirlingshire v Celtic – This Scottish Cup tie was played on the ground of the former at Merchiston Park, Falkirk. The visitors losing the toss, Groves started the ball for them, and for the next few minutes had the best of the play. The shire, however, broke away, and had one or two likely tries at the Celts’ goal. Both teams now played up hard, each visiting the others goal in turn. Maley, by an awkward mistake missed a very likely chance. A corner also fell to the Celts, but they failed to improve it. After play had gone on for forty minutes, M’Lauchlan scored the first point on the game for East Stirlingshire. Half-time was called with the Shire leading by one goal to nil. On resuming, the Celts made a determined effort to score, but the Shire retaliated and play was for a time pretty even. A foul fell to the Celts within a few feet of the home goal, but they failed to improve on it. The visitors put up a strong pressure within three minutes of time and notched their only two goals and thus won a hard game.

Celtic Team:-
Dunning
Collins
McKeown
Maley W
Kelly Jas
McLaren
McCallum
Gallacher
Groves
Dunbar
Maley T

Scorers:-
McCallum(2)