|
After an emotionally draining week Celtic said farewell to one of it's finest sons and the club's Greatest Ever Player with a victory over Dunfermline in the League Cup final at Hampden.
This final will go down in Celtic Folklore as the Jimmy Johnstone Final. The passing of the Greatest Ever Celtic player saw the club, players and fans wishing to dedicate the League Cup final, 2006, to the memory of Jinky. Of course, there was the small matter of having to beat Dunfermline in order to do that. And this was probably as one-sided a final as you're ever likely to see. With Mark Wilson cup tied and John Hartson out of the final thanks to a booking in the semi-final against Motherwell, the Celtic line-up saw Petrov providing the support for Magic up front and young Ross Wallace coming back in at left-back. These enforced changes did not seem to hamper Celtic and in fact some of their football was a delight to behold. Roy Keane in particular was a stand-out and the great footballing brain the man possesses was evident for all to see in his passing, the one-twos he would work and his running off the ball. If he does indeed decide to hang up his boots at the end of this season I for one will be glad to have seen him grace the Hoops (and I was very much in the 'No' camp went his move to Celtic Park was first mooted). I hope though he will have one more crack at the Champions League next season - and then become a coach at Celtic. There can be no doubt that he has a lot to pass on and while its true that great players do not necessairly make great coaches I think Keane, with his natural leadership abilites, would make the transition smoothly. In terms of goal mouth excitement the first half had little. Maloney and Wallace started the game well on the left as did Nakamura on the right. Celtic were very quick out of the traps and it was from a Nakamura cross that Celtic hit the crossbar after it came off a Pars defender as Magic challenged him. The Dunfermline keeper was lucky to stay on the park after rushing out to collect a ball that Keane was running on the ball. McGregor gathered the ball but took it outside his area and if Keane hadn't challenged him the ref would have been under a lot of pressure to show him red. As it was, Keane's challenge saw a free-kick awarded the other way.
It was McGregor who saved from a Keane header in what was the best chance of the half up until Magic pounced on an error by McGregor who collided with one of his own. The ball spilled to Zurawski who still had a little work to do to put it away from a tight angle. It was another lung busting run from Keane in the second half which ended his contribution of the day. As he was going into the box with the ball at this feet he pulled up and grabbed the back of his leg. He was to be replaced by Dion Dublin and PEtrov moved back to his normal midfield role. This seemed to give the Pars some belief that they might yet get something from the final - certainly the challneges became more robust after that. And as the minutes past with the score at 1-0 an uncertainity was creeping into my mind given how Celtic had defended at times this season. But up stepped Sean Maloney who thumped home a great free-kick in the 77th minute to put the game beyond Dunfermline. And it was Dion Dublin, who had been a nuisance since coming on, who applied a deft touch to a cross to wrap things up at three nil. As fans we got the result we so dearly wanted on a day were it was more that just a cup at stake. We wanted to be able to say goodbye to one of our own with a victory to dedicate to him. As the fans sang his name we were all of one mind - 'Jinky, this is for you'. |
