Celtic win the Scottish Youth Cup Final

SCOTTISH YOUTH CUP FINAL

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2006, at CELTIC PARK

Celtic 3, Heart of Midlothian 1 (after extra-time)

Scorers: Celtic - Bjarnason (43), McGlinchey ( 105), Millar (119)

Hearts - Neill (88).

CELTIC'S young Bhoys secured their second league and cup double in a row with a thrilling extra-time victory over Hearts which epitomised the skill, courage and will-to-win that will propel the members of Willie McStay's squad towards lengthy and lucrative careers in senior professional football.
This was the last game at youth level for the vast majority of this remarkable bunch of players, practically all of whom will be playing for the Reserves next season or making their mark in the first team squad.
The fierce examination of their potential to which they were subjected to by a determined, tall and physical Hearts team will have given them a taste of the type of challenge they will face over the next couple of years.
It has to be admitted that some of our lads appeared to wilt under the pressure of their opponents' fierce and direct approach. Yet others excelled.
And, at the end of an extremely tiring season - during which many of them were called on to turn out for both the Reserves and Youth teams - it is to their credit that they finished here the stronger team amid an epidemic of cramped muscles.
After more than two hours of heroic endeavour by every teenager on the pitch, Celtic were deserved winners.
And no one deserved to lift the Scottish Youth Cup trophy more than Hoops skipper Charlie Grant, who gave the 4,000 or so spectators a masterclass in destructive tackling and sensible ball distribution.
Celtic had started with Scott Fox in goal, the superb shot-stopper who has been called up to the Scotland Under-19 squad.
At right back was the swashbuckling Paul Caddis, with the battling Dean Richardson at left back. In the centre of defence were Scotland Under-19 captain Scott Cuthbert and Irish stalwart Daren O'Dea, the pair having been called back from the Reserves, where they had previously snubbed out the likes of Kris Boyd and Nacho Novo.
Michael McGlinchey, the only Celt with an SPL appearance behind him so far, started on the right of midfield, with Simon Ferry attacking from the centre and Charlie Grant playing the anchor role. The skillful Icelandic lad Teddy Bjarnason got the nod for the left midfield slot.
Up front, the pairing was Jim O'Brien, who has sparkled for the Reserves this season, and Paul McGowan, who, like O'Dea, was an unused sub for the first team at Aberdeen on Sunday.
Hearts started with first team squad players Lee Wallace and Calum Elliott at left back and central midfield respectively. And immediately it was clear they had a size advantage over some of the Celtic lads, with practically the whole team that travelled through from Edinburgh measuring six foot or over.
In the opening minutes, many of the Celtic supporters were preocupied with trying to get a seat as, with the Lower Main Stand full, a handful of brain-dead stewards and police officers refused to allow the hundreds of fans packing the bottom passageway entry into the empty upper stand.
After 15 farcical and increasingly-angry minutes, common sense prevailed.
Have these clowns never heard of Hillsborough?
By this point Elliott had fired over for Hearts and a Bjarnason cross had just missed O'Brien after superb lead-up play by Ferry.
On 18 minutes, Fox made a fine save from a low, skidding shot by Denis McLaughlin. Eight minutes later Hearts captain John Neill was booked for a foul on Bjarnason, followed a minute later by Hearts striker John Mole being yellow-carded for a foul on Grant.
That summed up the action to that point, with the Jambos attempting to intimidate and out-muscle the Celts, who were clearly technically superior whenever they were allowed to play football.
It took the Celts half an hour to put together one of their trademark sweet-passing moves, it ending with a driven Caddis cross which was cleared to safety.
A minute later, the Hoops right back almost gifted his opponents the opener when he slipped, allowing Mole a clear run on goal. It took a great save from Fox to deny him.
That sparked 60 seconds of mayhem as Celtic immediately counter-attacked, with O'Brien winning a corner, from which McGlinchey's cross was headed inches over the bar by the soaring Cuthbert.
With Hearts expending prodigious amounts of energy in playing a frantic pressing game - a tactic that would come back to haunt them later as their players collapsed one by one in agony - chances were few and far between.
Celtic breathed a sigh of relief a couple of minutes from half-time when a McLaughlin shot was deflected a couple of feet wide. But seconds later the young Bhoys took the lead with a quite wonderful goal.
Ferry, so often the inspiration for this team, embarked on a lung-bursting 50-yard run that took him past three Hearts defenders and straight through on goal.
While such a scenario might be enough to leave lesser players over-excited, this consummate footballer retained enough composure to draw the keeper and then roll the ball across the six yard box for Bjarnason to stroke it into the empty net.
The goal seemed to energise Celtic. Within 30 seconds, Caddis had raced past two defenders on a blistering run and fired in a superb cross which was scrambled clear.
McGlinchey also had a half-chance before the half-time whistle sounded to puncture the Celts' momentum. It had come at precisely the wrong moment for McStay's Bhoys.
For if the Celts had found it hard to get into their slick-passing rhythm in the first half, things got even worse for the first 20 minutes of the second period.
Hearts pushed up at the back, compressing the play and denying the likes of Ferry, McGlinchey and Bjarnason room to play passes and dictate possession.
When the young Jambos got the ball, they wasted no time in getting it forward to their big strikers, fighting for scraps, putting the ball into corners and playing for set pieces.
It was very much an English-style game, but it was effective in piling pressure on the Celtic back line, who had to endure a blizzard of corners - I counted 11 for Hearts in the second half - and set pieces.
With so many big lads in their set-up, it was clear the Edinburgh side fancied their chances in the air as they fired cross after cross into the heart of the Celtic defence.
It is to their great credit that the powerful centre backs Cuthbert and O'Dea coped with the bulk of them, with big Scott particularly impressive at winning headers, while O'Dea's fierce tackles repeatedly stemmed the tide.
After 51 minutes, Fox flapped at one corner. Four minutes later, Hearts stopper Alan Lithgow headed just over. Then Wallace had another header that went over.
The best chance of all fell to Mole on 59 minutes when he outjumped the diminutive Caddis to a free-kick but sent his free header from eight yards just inches past the post.
As Hearts' frustration mounted, Eliott was booked for a scything challenge on O'Brien. Then Lithgow glanced another header just wide.
It took Celtic until the 63rd minute to make their first decent attack of the second half, Ferry setting up Caddis for a cross that was scrambled clear.
McLaughlin then headed over before Lithgow became the fourth Hearts player to be booked, this time for dissent.
By the time Grant had been booked on 77 minutes for persistent fouling it seemed the Celts had weathered the storm.
Indeed, by this stage the Hearts players were beginning to show signs of suffering from cramp.
With 12 minutes to go, Ferry set up Bjarnason for a jinking run which ended up with a low shot held by Hearts keeper Haraldur Bjornsson, who is presumably one of Teddy's fellow-Icelanders.
O'Brien was by this stage running the legs off the increasingly distressed Hearts centre-backs. On 84 minutes, McGowan tried a chip, which was saved when Celtic had plenty of men forward on the counter-attack.
Fox then made another brave save before wee Gowser was replaced by Mark Millar with only four minutes remaining.
Mark took up his familiar beat on the right of midfield, with McGlinchey moving into a withdrawn striker role as the Celts looked to close out the match.
And when Millar fed Ferry to cut inside and fire a left-foot shot just over the bar, it seemed the Bhoys were coasting to victory.
But two minutes from time disaster struck when a long cross to the back post by Andrew Driver was headed out weakly to the middle of the penalty box by Richardson.
Even then John Neill's shot took a cruel deflection to wrong-foot Fox, who could only look on in horror as the ball trickled into the corner of the net.
The Hearts players indulged in some childish taunting of the sizeable home support, yet even at this point I felt too many of their players were running on empty.
And when the final whistle went, the sight of at least three Hearts players lying on their backs getting cramped muscles massaged seemed to indicate their best hope would be to hold on for penalties.
Yet Hearts started extra-time brightly. A long-range Driver shot was well held by Fox before Elliott wrong-footed Grant on the edge of the box and sent a fierce, low shot inches wide.
After 96 minutes, Caddis set up Millar for a low cross that caused panic in the Jambos defence. But by this stage it was clear that Ferry had picked up a debilitating groin injury towards the end of 90 minutes and was struggling to run.
He was replaced by Ryan Conroy, who took up his usual spot on the left wing, with Bjarnason - who had up until this point been fairly peripheral to the action - moving into the centre of midfield, where he immediately looked more at home.
Hearts put Mark McCusker on for McLaughlin, then took off cramp victim Lithgow, replacing him with Matthew Park.
Celtic were by now in the ascendancy. A Caddis cross was deflected for a corner, then, from a great Conroy cross, McGlinchey volleyed over with his left foot.
By the time the second half of extra-time had started, it was clear half the Hearts team were struggling, while McGlinchey and O'Brien of Celtic were showing signs of cramp, to be followed soon after by Caddis.
After 106 minutes, Neill went close with a 25-yard free-kick. But from then on it was all Celtic. A long McGlinchey cross was well controlled by Conroy, whose fierce volley just cleared the bar - although the referee had, erroneously, already whistled for a handball against Ryan.
Hearts put on Steven Slater for Driver after 111 minutes, but four minutes later the Hoops forced their way back into the lead.
A vicious inswinging corner from the excellent Conroy fell for McGlinchey at the back post, who forced the ball home to spark scenes of delirium on the pitch and in the stands.
That was young Michael's last contribution, as he was replaced a minute later by the Irish striker Diarmuid O'Carroll.
And any fears the Celts might have had about losing their lead for a second time were dispelled a minute from the end of extra-time by a superb clinching goal.
Man of the match Grant, who was magnificent throughout, won yet another tackle, beat a man, and fed Millar.
The slightly-built 18-year-old veered in from the right flank past two Hearts players before, from 20 yards and with his left foot, he drove in a fierce, low shot which skidded into the bottom corner.
The Celtic players jumped for joy, the Hearts players slumped to the turf in exhausted anguish.
Minutes later, Charlie Grant was joyfully hoisting the cup above his head as his teammates and the Celtic fans chanted "Championees, Championees!"
It had been a battle, for which much credit is due to the young Hearts lads, who gave everything they had.
But they were beaten by the best young footballers in Scotland, several of whom will soon be savouring the cheers of 60,000 fans as they run out as first team players on to the same pitch they graced tonight.


(I will do a separate Player-by-Player piece on Thursday)