By Gabriel Mills
While Hearts led the Scottish Premiership race for the majority of the season, a 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park on Saturday meant Derek McInnes’ side fell at the final hurdle in dramatic fashion.
Late on in the first half, Lawrence Shankland opened the scoring for the visitors, but the lead did not last long – Arne Engels converted from the spot for Celtic in the fourth minute of added time.
The second half was as nail-biting and tense as any match this season, and anything but a home win would crown Hearts as the champions of Scotland.
As Kelechi Iheanacho struck the post with 10 minutes to go, you wondered whether it was meant to be for the underdogs – Daizen Maeda had other plans, however.
With time ticking into the final four minutes of the 90, a low ball across the box was prodded home by Celtic’s Japanese forward before celebrations were cut short by an offside flag.
A VAR check confirmed what viewers could already see, there was no offside and Celtic Park exploded.
The final nail in the coffin for Hearts came when goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow joined the attack for a set-piece in the final minutes of added time.
The cross was subsequently headed away, giving 20-year-old Callum Osmand an open goal to run the ball into and seal the win.
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Martin O’Neill praises “mental courage”
In what had been an underwhelming season for the title holders, experienced manager Martin O’Neill took over the reins at Celtic for a third spell in January.
Following the dramatic win, the Northern Irishman told Sky Sports: “They’ve (the players) given me a rejuvenation.
“I thought the days here of me lifting a trophy at Celtic Park, in front of these fans, was well and truly gone.”
Celtic found a way to win through belief and determination which particularly pleased the manager, who added: “We make plenty of mistakes but there’s great courage within the team… mental courage which has carried us over the line.”
A run of seven straight wins to end the season kept his side within touching distance of Hearts in top spot.
“If you’d have asked me before we played Rangers, could I take it to the final day, I would have bitten your arm off”, the 74-year-old joked.
Pushed all the way by “magnificent” Hearts
On his title rivals, O’Neill had plenty of admiration, saying: “It’s very easy to be patronising and sycophantic, they’ve been magnificent, they are the big story of the season.
“They deserve all the credit, the manager’s been fantastic – he deserves the manager of the year, he’s been brilliant and Hearts have been brilliant.”
Having been top since September, Hearts will take little comfort in the praise given from the opposition manager but the Celtic boss felt importance in recognising the achievements of the runners-up.
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“Never ever did they stop believing”
Celtic’s captain, Callum McGregor, was proud of the effort from his team, echoing the words of his manager.
McGregor told Sky Sports: “The word character and mentality, we won that title because of that.
“It wasn’t like free-flowing football, it wasn’t as good as we’ve ever been, it’s heart and desire and that’s what wins you football matches”, he said in his post-match interview.
With the match still hung in the balance at 1-1, McGregor remained confident another chance would come for Celtic late on.
“We started getting into a rhythm, getting into a flow, creating chances – you could feel the energy starting to pick up,” he added.
“With five minutes to go you think, ‘is it going to happen, are we going to fall at the last hurdle’ but credit to the boys, they just never know when they’re beat.”
Finding positives after devastating finale
For Hearts, this will hurt for a while – for the players, the manager, the fans and everyone involved with the club.
Following the third goal for Celtic, home fans invaded the pitch with several instances of reported accosting towards Hearts players before they were swiftly escorted away from the pitch.
This meant no post-match interviews could be carried out for the visitors – Derek McInnes spoke for the first time since the game after being awarded with Manager of the Year on Sunday..
As reported by Edinburgh News, McInnes insisted his side will take the disappointment and use it as extra fuel to go again in the next campaign.
Hearts will also have the chance to impress on the biggest stage – their second-placed finish awards them with a Champions League qualifying spot.
“I think, with the enthusiasm from everybody at the club, the desire to improve and go on, we will try to make it the norm for us to be challenging and trying to be competing for trophies on a more regular basis.” he said, after accepting his managerial award from the Scottish Football Writers Association.
“I firmly believe that those expectations will be met as we go on. I think this season has given us so much encouragement”, he added.
McInnes and his players will take pride from their overall performance this season, despite being pipped at the last by Celtic.
As for O’Neill, his side will have the chance to win another trophy on May 23, facing Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup final.
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