Maloney fires Celts with style

ON THE day the Celtic masses remembered the 25th anniversary of the death of their great colossus of the past, Jock Stein, the current generation did what needed to be done against Hearts - and did it well.

They were a mere two goals ahead as the game swung into added time, which was a bit of a laugh, really. At least Paddy McCourt made the score a little more reflective of the balance of play when he soloed his way through for a delicious third late on. It was his first at Parkhead.

Quite honestly, Hearts, playing a suicidal offside trap, got off lightly here. Jim Jefferies complained bitterly about Celtic's first goal and about a penalty that was never given to his team, but he shouldn't be making too big a deal of that. Jefferies was sent to the stand for his protests after James Forrest tapped in the opener, but he'd be better off getting the DVD, cracking it in half and shoving it in the rubbish.

Celtic managed to get themselves one-on-one with Marian Kello so many times that no Jambo will surely want to revisit what happened here.

It was a shame for Hearts. They had to come here without two of their go-to men in defence, Lee Wallace and Marius Zaliuska, and the pair of them were sorely missed. Anthony Stokes, making his debut, might not have taken advantage of the ponderous defending around him, but Shaun Maloney had a field day and ran the show.

Georgios Samaras was only on the field for the last 20 minutes but he could have had a hat-trick, easily.

In fairness, Hearts started fine. Up until Forrest's opener, it was Hearts who had created the most clearcut chances. Kevin Kyle had a header from a corner parried by Fraser Forster. Eggert Jonsson followed up with a stabbed effort but couldn't put it past the big lighthouse between the Celtic sticks.

David Templeton had a lively start. So, too, did Suso Santana. The pair of them combined close to the half-hour and the latter cracked in a shot from distance that slapped off Forster's right-hand post.

Jefferies would have been chuffed at this point, but that was soon to change. Suso had been afforded all the time he liked to measure his drive, a fact that would presumably have given Jefferies cause to dream of what might have been, had his team not conceded a goal in the very next play.

This is when the day really started to catch fire for the home crowd. It was the ball from Maloney to Daryl Murphy that had Jefferies in a frightful strop, the Hearts manager utterly convinced that Murphy was offside when he received it.

The Irishman didn't hang about to check for a flag, of course.

He galloped down the right, veered in on goal and, by rights, he should have had a lash at it, such was his proximity to Kello. Instead, he played a ropey pass into the six-yard box which should have been dealt with, but wasn't. Instead, Forrest was allowed to trundle it home.

Cue Jefferies screeching at a somewhat frightened-looking linesman.

Hearts' demise might have had its origins in a contested offside decision, but their back four was all over the place thereafter. Giant gaps appeared and this was summed-up by a bizarre little episode.

Forrest had got away from his marker up the left and had two team-mates to pick from in the box, both of them unmarked. The youngster played it across to Maloney, his pass a trifle heavy, perhaps. Maloney, seeing Murphy to his right, decided to leave the tap-in to him. But Murphy didn't read his intention. Checking his stride, presuming that Maloney was going to gobble up the chance for himself, Murphy watched as the ball rolled agonisingly away from him.

Still, they made up for it a minute or so later. Coming to Celtic Park without two stalwart defenders was always a big ask for Hearts, especially when you think the Gods are conspiring against you, as they probably did.

When Celtic made it 2-0, there were again protests from the Hearts faithful about an offside call that went against them. This time it was a Stokes ball through the middle that did the damage. Just as soon as Maloney shuffled on to round Kello and stick in the net, the visitor's bench reacted angrily for a second time. Where Jefferies was at this point was hard to tell. The depths of hell, perhaps. Or worse, in the middle of the Celtic fans. Probably no great difference between the two for the manager, to be fair.

Hearts only occasionally raised a gallop after that. Suso had a shot beaten away by Forster and there was a momentary appeal for a penalty as Templeton went down under a challenge from Emilio Izaguirre. After that? Celtic all the way.

Murphy could have had a couple of goals, but ended up with nothing despite being put one-on-one with Kello early in the second half. Murphy tried to round the goalkeeper but if it wasn't evident before then that the striker does not possess the same nimble feet as Maloney, then it was all too obvious when Kello foiled him easily.

There could have been more goals for Celtic. Maloney came close. Samaras could have had two or three without extending himself unduly, one of his efforts ruled offside, another one saved by Kello, a third badly spurned.

By the end there was a touch of the home team running amok.

McCourt topped it off by evading two defenders and clipping home a lovely finish.

It was a deserved flourish for a team that are looking certain to administer a ferocious pounding on somebody if they ever manage to convert a larger percentage of the chances they create in games such as this.

CELTIC

Forster

Cha Du-Ri

Loovens

Majstorovic

Izaguirre

Forrest

Brown (61)

Ledley

Maloney

Murphy (69)

Stokes (77)

Subs used

Kayal (61)

McCourt (77)

Samaras (69)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Shaun Maloney (Celtic)

Clever and clinical and stood out a mile for his ingenuity.

TALKING POINT

Celtic's breakthrough goal. Jim Jefferies got sent off in protest at an offside flag that never came.

Referee: W Collum. Attendance: 49,023

HEARTS

Kello

Barr

Bouzid

Jonsson

Palazuelos

Templeton

Black (73)

Mrowiec

Stevenson (83)

Suso

Kyle (65)

Subs used

Obua (65)

Elliot (73)

McGowan (83)

Taken from the Scotsman