| Match Pictures | Matches: 1994 – 1995 | 1991-2000 |
Trivia
- Scottish Cup final
- Celtic win the Scottish Cup
- Celtic’s first senior trophy in six years, since May 1989 Scottish Cup Final.
- Celtic had lost the League Cup final in Nov 1994 v Raith Rovers (6-5 on penalties, after a 2-2 draw). That match marked Celtic’s first final for years and the first team failed.
- The 1995 Scottish Cup was Paul McStay’s first trophy as captain.
- Tommy Burns’ first season as manager, lifting some silverware for Celtic.
- First trophy under the new board regime since the takeover in 1994.
- The cup was presented to Paul McStay by the Duchess of Kent. It is a very rare occurrence for a royal to attend the Scottish Cup final.
- SFA criticised for using Hampden which was under ground development and only held 37,000 as opposed to Ibrox which held 47,000 at that time.
- First cup medals for Vata, McKinlay, McNally, McLaughlin, Collins, Van Hooydonk and Falconer.
Match Review
It’s funny when you look back on 1995 and think of just how important the Scottish Cup win was to the support. In some eyes its devalued as the league has become the be all & end all, but to those too young to have been around then, you have to give a history lesson on the previous 5-6 years at least, which is mostly of the scope of this review.
To summarise, Celtic had been battered and insulted both on and off the pitch by the club’s opponents and the club’s own incompetent board management (pre-takeover), to the level that led the club to near oblivion. The hard fought Celtic Takeover, in 1994 was hoped to bring a sea change to the club’s fortunes but defeat in November 1994 to Raith Rovers in the league cup final showed that things were far more difficult to rectify than even the most optimistic could hope for.
Anyhow, into the cup final against Airdrie, a team whose reputation stretched as far as to get an article written about them in a French magazine (with reporters sent over to see them) for having achieved a record number of yellow cards in a recent season (something like 100!). So it was the “Glasgow Celtic way” versus the “little Hunnish Way” in the cup final. A repeat defeat in another cup final would seriously have damaged our efforts to return to respectability.
The atmosphere in the ground was as good as could be, with most hopeful of a victory. The team with McStay, Collins & Van Hooidonk in the starting line-up were class players, and in effect Celtic were to rely on them in hope to get anything out of this match. For McStay, it was important for him to finally get the monkey off his back and win a trophy as a captain. He was a class player and a stalwart during the barren years to date, and it was an unfair burden to have had to carry the side for much over the past 5 years of ineptitude. With Tommy Burns in his maiden season as manager for Celtic, a trophy would give him and the management some confidence for the next season to come.
The game kicked off, and an early goal on nine minutes sealed the game for Celtic, Van Hooijdonk the name on the scoresheet. Truth be told, there was little much better in the match. Efforts were few and far between, and Airdrie were very lacklustre (thankfully). Strong tackling and blood and guts defending was the order of the day with Peter Grant, in particular, putting in a strong shift.
The result was more important for both sides rather than just the game itself, and it showed.
As the final whistle went, it was joy, but really relief, and there was nobody anyone could feel more happier for than Paul McStay. Others had played their part on the day also, but just having the silver trophy in the hands of Celtic’s first team to loft above their heads was something to be prized. We’d been starved for too long, and there was hope that this was another stepping stone back up to respectability.
In the meantime, something to celebrate on the pitch rather than something off of it for a change.
Teams
Airdrie:
Martin; Hay (McIntyre 81min), Sandison, Jack, Stewart; Harvey (T Smith 51min), Black, Boyle, Lawrence; Cooper, A Smith.
Celtic:
Bonner; Vata, Boyd, McNally, McKinlay; McLaughlin, Grant, McStay, Collins; Donnelly (O’Donnell 70min), van Hooijdonk (Falconer 39min).
Goals: van Hooijdonk
Referee: L Mottram (Forth)
Att: 36,915
Pictures
Articles
Celtic triumph with Dutch courage –
Football
Sunday Times, The (London, England)
May 28, 1995
Author: Tom English at Hampden Park
AIRDRIE 0 – CELTIC 1
CELTIC’S suffering is finally over. A trophy, that most elusive of beasts, is finally theirs after six long years of failure. As they whooped their way around Hampden, the eyes of their 30,000 supporters fixed upon them illustrated with crystal clarity how much this Scottish Cup victory means to everyone at Parkhead.
The cup was not won with any great style or with a goal that will live long in the memory, but with a battling display many thought was beyond them. Van Hooijdonk, the much-maligned Dutch giant that spearheads their attack, got the goal after nine minutes of a tense and scrappy final, and Boyd and McNally in the centre of defence were quite outstanding in protecting Celtic’s lead, brushing off any danger with comparative ease.
Airdrie will be bitterly disappointed with their display, possibly the worst they have produced in their high-drama season. It took them almost half an hour to introduce the slightest burst of attacking menace into their play. Harvey, so impressive in the semi-final against Hearts, was effectively stifled by the rock-solid Parkhead defence yesterday.
This day, however, was about Celtic, the end of the trophy famine that almost brought the club to its knees. They had won the cup in 1965, 1975, and 1985. The sequence would continue in 1995, surely? It was also about Paul McStay, finally relieved of the burden of being the only Celtic captain in history to never have led his side to a trophy. It was about Tommy Burns, a man who took control of the club when it was at a spectacularly low ebb and then dragged it back to winning ways.
What happens to Celtic now is anyone’s guess. A place in Europe may attract the seasoned internationals they are attempting to bring to Celtic Park. They have the millions to spend, and they are building a super stadium at Parkhead they are a club finally on the up.
Grant, that most dynamic of Celtic midfield players, was fit to play after a fortnight of fretting over a knee-ligament injury, but O’Neil, their young centre-back, was not. He succumbed to an injury picked up in a calamitous training session on Monday. Donnelly, the 20-year-old who two seasons ago promised much but delivered little, partnered Van Hooijdonk up front. McNally, who had not played for three months, was in central defence. On paper it was hardly the kind of line-up to put even the slightest dent in the fantastic self-assurance of an Airdrie side who have made an art form of taming giants.
Perhaps they were not ready for the full venom of Celtic’s opening sorties. McNally rose to bash a McKinlay corner just past Martin’s left-hand post. After five minutes, van Hooijdonk slotted McLaughlin through, his efforts winning a corner. Airdrie were still fumbling clumsily to get a grip when Celtic hit the front.
All week people had spoken about the importance an early goal would have on Celtic’s dreams of victory. If it did not come fast, we were told, Celtic would crumble. They would be haunted by the memory of their defeat in the League Cup final to Raith Rovers, and paralysed by the sheer fear of its happening all over again. In short, they would be easy meat for Airdrie’s ravenous wolves.
It didn’t quite turn out that way when Van Hooijdonk climbed above a sleeping Airdrie defence to head McKinlay’s cross from wide on the left into the net. An enormous burden had been lifted off both Celtic and their supporters. Their prayers had been answered, they had their goal, and the players had the cushion they so desperately wanted.
Airdrie became frustrated, the tenancious tackling of Grant and the infuriating jinking runs of McLaughlin were seeing to that. Bonner’s work in the Celtic goal did not offer them a crumb of comfort.But it would be a mistake to say Airdrie carried any great menace. They pushed forward, more so than Celtic who after scoring inexplicably sat back, but for all their huff and puff they rarely looked like they had what it took to cut through Celtic’s defence.
Celtic fans bayed for a second goal, but they needn’t have bothered. Airdrie were expertly stopped in their tracks by the industrious Grant, the player who collected the man of the match award for his rousing efforts in driving Celtic forward while at the same time watching out for Aidrie counters. They, were few and far between, however.
Airdrie: Martin; Hay (McIntyre 81min), Sandison, Jack, Stewart; Harvey (T Smith 51min), Black, Boyle, Lawrence; Cooper, A Smith.
Celtic: Bonner; Vata, Boyd, McNally, McKinlay; McLaughlin, Grant, McStay, Collins; Donnelly (O’Donnell 70min), van Hooijdonk (Falconer 39min).
Referee: L Mottram (Forth).
Player Ratings
CELTIC Pat Bonner: Made an excellent save from Lawrence in the first half, the only time he was needed.
Tom Boyd: The Scotland man looked totally at ease in his new role at the heart of Celtic’s defence.
Tosh McKinlay: Superb. Made van Hooijdonk’s goal and his crosses caused problems throughout.
Rudi Vata: The Albanian had a trouble free afternoon at right back and surged forward at every opportunity.
Mark McNally: Looked overweight but made several telling interceptions on his return to the first team.
Peter Grant: Did not look 100% fit but his presence in midfield calmed Celtic’s nerves. Sponsors’ man of the match.
Brian McLaughlin: Regularly found good positions but wasted them by failing to provide the telling pass or cross.
Paul McStay: Only seen in flashes, the Celtic captain looked listless and out of sorts.
Pierre van Hooijdonk: The Dutch forward took his goal well, but was forced out of the match following a challenge by Airdrie’s Hay.
Simon Donnelly: Subdued afternoon for the youngster, who failed to gel with either van Hooijdonk or Falconer.
John Collins: Quiet match by his own standards but he came very close with a diving header from a Falconer cross.
Subs: Phil O’Donnell: On for the closing 20 minutes, he failed to make an impression. Willie Falconer: Created one chance for Collins and forced a fine save from Martin.
Peter Grant Final
Dick Louden on how Peter Grant, the man in the engine room, was so vital to Celtic.
THE legions roared, they chanted, they stamped their feet thunderously. The banners of different hues which they raised aloft in exultation were almost snatched from the grasp by the electric atmosphere which vibrated round the vast intimidating bowl of Hampden.
Amid the massive hubbub, Peter Grant, composed and determined, was the logical choice as man of the match.
Like most recent Scottish Cup finals, this match was not a dish to satisfy the palate of the gourmet. Van Hooijdonk’s early goal blew Airdrie’s strategic plans asunder and forced them to raise the momentum to a level which was not conducive to imaginative play. What Celtic needed was a committed midfielder who would compete with Airdrie’s tenacious persistence. They had precisely that in Grant.
His remarkable recovery from knee ligament damage over the last two weeks has been well documented. This is a man who hardly ever gives an interview without describing the prime quality demanded of Celtic players as “passion”.
Hampden offered no finer example of passion than Grant himself. It is 13 years since he joined Celtic from their own boys’ club and at times his relationship with managers and supporters has verged on the tempestuous. Through it all Grant has continued to go about his business to such purpose that Tommy Burns, his manager, has no hesitation in awarding him the accolade of “our most consistent player this season”. He was consistency personified at Hampden. In his 31st Scottish Cup tie he is the immensely proud owner of a winners’ medal from the 1-0 victory over Rangers in 1989 Grant did nothing fancy all afternoon.
There were no goal-line clearances, no visionary passes to rupture the Airdrie defence. But that was not why he was there.
He simply refused to let Black, Harvey and Boyle set up a decent supply-line to their strikers. He hustled and harried to such effect that the pressure was lifted from McStay and Collins.
Ten minutes from the end, he fell heavily in a tackle and lay in obvious pain for a while. Suddenly the mighty Celtic support, so vociferous and raucous from the ninth minute on, fell silent.
The thought of the boiler house running out of fuel was too awful to contemplate. The play had been punctuated by numerous injuries but none had evoked such an apprehensive response from the huge Celtic following.
Grant’s recovery was so complete and so effective that he could terminate Airdrie’s interest with one of the most critical interventions of the afternoon. The elusive Lawrence, the source of nearly all his team’s potential threat, was penetrating deep into the Celtic penalty area when a sliding tackle, timed to perfection by the intrepid Grant, brought the attack to an abrupt conclusion. Again Grant lay prone and in agony but again his mission was fulfilled.
He nearly didn’t make the final but in the end the final made him. Unpopular enough at times in the past to be nearly as homeless as his beloved Celtic have themselves been this season, Grant is now deservedly the focus of universal warmth.