| Match Pictures | Matches: 1987 – 1988 | 1987-88 |
Trivia
- Celtic stun Hearts with two goals in the last two minutes to win one of the most dramatic endings ever seen at Hampden.
- Celtic still on for the Cup & League double.
- Celtic to play Hearts in league the next week.
- Frank McAvennie (2019): “It was probably one of my worst games for Celtic,” said McAvennie, a classic footballing lovable rogue. “When we were getting beaten 1-0 with minutes to go I remember the Hearts fans all celebrating. Unfortunately for them – and fortunately for us – we scored two late goals to win.
Review
(Otis of KDS)
It felt like the first day of spring; still wearing coats and jackets and then the sun came out, Celtic weather; it was a warm Saturday afternoon, and it got hotter. Like many I was an almost ever present to every home match that centenary season, and attended more away games than I have before or since, but even so I still didn’t have a ticket for the semi-final and eventually had to scamper up to every approaching supporters bus to see if they had any spares – and got one at first attempt.
The game itself was a classic, not only for the two Celtic goals but for the absurdity of the Hearts opener – effectively that big galoot Dave McPherson charged onto a looping forward pass, and Packie Bonner spending too much time watching the approaching mulleted Hun and the ball was in the net, and Packie on his erse complaining. I was apoplectic that the ref hadn’t awarded a foul, but on hindsight it was clearly Bonner’s fumble. Aye, but naw, but aye, but then we were off and I can say I never felt we were going to lose this fixture – Celtic dominated Hearts and the final score was justly deserved.
If you ever watch the TV footage, I particularly like the way Cesar is celebrating at full time when wee, weasly Alex MacDonald approaches him for a post-match handshake, and King Billy goes from exuberant air punching to (in)sincere, condolences to the wee un-reconstructed and bitter hun.
Spin forward to the month of May and the final, and it feels almost almost a carbon copy of emotions, except we had ole’ Thatch to shout abuse to as a bonus.
(Pedrok of KDS forum in 2018)
Thirty years ago today, Celtic beat Hearts 2-1 in the Scottish Cup semi-final. So what? Celtic have won a number of cup semi-finals over the years. But this semi-final was special in the fact that it was played on the 9 April 1988. During the 1987-88 season. During the Centenary Season!
A few reasons why I have marked this particular game, this particular date. Firstly, I was thinking about that season over the weekend, and looking at the Celtic Wiki, realised we were only a day short of this particular anniversary.
Secondly, I consider the Centenary Season as my most favourite season, even though I missed huge parts of it. Almost as soon as the season had started, I had headed off to uni, down in England, a bit of a late uni starter in that I was older than most of my fellow students, and there was no internet, or live Sky/BT games to keep you up to date. So the games I did get up to see were even better. And that Hearts semi-final took place during the Easter break, and I was there.
Thirdly, it was the first of a series of games that wrapped up the double in the Centenary season, all of which I managed to get too. All bar one game!! And so, that game was followed by an away defeat to Hearts, the only game where I have been thrown out a football ground. The win against Dundee, with about 90,000 there. A game away to Motherwell, which is why I had been looking at the Celtic wiki page. The win against Dunfermline, and the ‘Happy birthday Celtic’ banner from the Dunfermline fans, and the trophy. And of course, the final itself, against Dundee Utd, the game I didn’t get too, a game that finished, as so many had that season, with a late winner, the interview with Tommy Burns at the end, where he pointed at the fans and said ‘They’re there and they’re always there. And God bless every one of them’.
And fourthly, so I can just say, where the eff has 30 years gone!
The players that played that day have come and gone, many of the fans that would have been at Hampden 30 years ago today will no longer be with us, but my memories of that particular game, those final games and that season will always be with me. And the memories, like the fans, are there, and always will be there, and God bless every one of them. And God bless Tommy Burns.
Teams
Celtic:
Bonner, Morris, Whyte, Aitken, Rogan, Stark, McStay, Burns, Walker, McAvennie, Miller (sub McGhee 69m)
Goals: Walker (88, 90+)
Hearts:
Smith, Murray, Whittaker, Galloway,Berry, Mackay (sub Jardine), McPherson, Black, Colquhoun, Foster (sub Clark 78), Robertson
Goals: Whittaker ()
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Forums
- Memories of the game form 2018: http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11069100/1/?x=50
Articles
The Times (London)
Football:Celticstill on target for double
Celticstayed on course to complete the double of League championship and Scottish Cup when they overcameHeartof Midlothian 2-1 in a semi-final at Hampden Park on Saturday whose climax was a gripping as any Grand National.
Heartslead after an hour with a controversial goal when Bonner, hotly challenged by McPherson, allowed a lob from Whittaker into the net.
Frank McAvennie retro look back (2019)
The classic example of their footballing escapology came 31 years ago this week at Hampden when they found themselves in a chasm in trailing Hearts by a goal with only 90 seconds of the 90 remaining in the club’s Scottish Cup semi-final. There then ensued one of the most dramatic denouements in the annals of the competition. Substitute Mark McGhee carving out an equaliser was only the start of it, with Celtic then finding a way to win it through an Andy Walker added-time goal, both these efforts owing everything to the butter fingers of Tynecastle keeper Henry Smith.
“It was probably one of my worst games for Celtic,” said McAvennie, a classic footballing lovable rogue. “When we were getting beaten 1-0 with minutes to go I remember the Hearts fans all celebrating. Unfortunately for them – and fortunately for us – we scored two late goals to win.