REFEREE Alan Muir brought his whistle to his lips for one final time and for a few moments yesterday afternoon at Tynecastle all of Celtic’s concerns - past and future - seemed to temporarily drift away.
An extensive post-mortem on what has been an underwhelming season will follow in the weeks ahead, while speculation over just who might succeed Ronny Deila as manager, and the rebuilding job that awaits the new man, will also resume soon enough.
For 10 or so glorious minutes, however, the departing Celtic manager, his backroom team and players congregated in the Edinburgh sunshine in front of a boisterous travelling support and simply revelled in the moment. A fifth successive league championship had all but been clinched and, in a campaign where frustration and disappointment have been recurring themes, this was a picture of pure and unadulterated joy. A team booed off the pitch just a week earlier naturally soaked up every last second of it.
The Ronny Roar was modified to become a communal celebration, the entire Celtic party joining hands European style as the fans afforded them three cheers. The supporters sang “championees” and the players took turn to do their party pieces. Efe Ambrose and Logan Bailly turned somersaults, Mikael Lustig tried a handstand, and Erik Sviatchenko executed a somewhat curious jig like a dad at a wedding. Aberdeen’s victory over Motherwell later in the day means the title is still not arithmetically secured with three games remaining, but with a nine-point lead and a 35-goal differential in their favour, there were few among the Celtic camp huddled anxiously around a calculator trying to work out the different permutations.
The title, then, has been clinched and achieved via one of their most impressive performances of recent times. Celtic were thoroughly dominant in the first half, endured a difficult spell early in the second when Hearts drew level, before returning to the front foot to secure the victory – and the championship – with two further goals. They have been a team accused at times of a lack of character but, at a notoriously hostile venue, this was an impressive victory and one thoroughly merited. How Deila must wish they had played like this more frequently.
His captain Scott Brown careered around like a man possessed. A booking in the sixth minute looked like it would inhibit him for the remainder of the match but it did nothing of the sort. On a few occasions during a harum-scarum second half it seemed almost inevitable that Brown would eventually charge into a second tackle and end up trooping off for an early bath but he kept himself on the right side of the law and marshalled his team through to victory. He was on the receiving end once or twice too, with Prince Buaben catching him with an elbow as the pair contested a high ball in the first half. The yellow card flashed above the Hearts midfielder’s head could easily have been red.
Others looked pumped up, too. Colin Kazim-Richards, the self-anointed Big Z, tore around the pitch with a combination of pantomime menace and adroit movement. An already energised performance was lifted up another notch when he scored his first Celtic league goal – and second in total – to put his team in front after 17 minutes. Callum McGregor shovelled a pass wide to the overlapping Lustig and when his cross arced over Don Cowie’s head, Kazim-Richards showed great composure to take it on his chest before cushioning a finish inside Neil Alexander’s near post. Celtic were on their way.
Hearts’ manager Robbie Neilson switched from a three-man to a four-man defence at half-time but it did little to patch up a porous backline that continued to look vulnerable with every Celtic attack. Having clawed the way back into contention through a fine run and finish from substitute Abiola Dauda, Hearts were then complicit in their own downfall.
Celtic’s second goal was a shambles from a defensive point of view. Alim Ozturk had two attempts to clear but couldn’t and, under pressure from Leigh Griffiths, Perry Kitchen failed to reach John Souttar with a header. That allowed Patrick Roberts to nick in and slot a shot past the helpless Alexander.
Celtic now had one hand on the trophy but they needed a third goal to ease any fears of a second Hearts equaliser. Proving there is no show without Punch, it came with just five minutes remaining from the tireless Griffiths who collared his 39th goal of a stellar season. Less than a minute after a run-in with Souttar that had led to both players being booked, Griffiths was lightning quick to block an attempted clearance from the defender. Fastening on to the loose ball wide on the right, Griffiths simply pushed it through Souttar’s legs, ran around to collect it before thudding his shot past Alexander. The championship was all but secured.
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