THE LAST time Martin O’Neill lost a league game at Parkhead was almost 21 years ago – to this afternoon’s opponents Hibs.
And it was future iconic captain of Celtic, Scott Brown, who piled on the misery as the Edinburgh club triumphed 3-1 in the east end of Glasgow on the Saturday afternoon of April 30 2005.
It was a defeat that was to ultimately cost O’Neill’s side the title during a rollercoaster campaign.
Celtic had won 2-1 at Ibrox the previous weekend as they prepared for the visit of the capital club, managed by future Hoops gaffer Tony Mowbray.
There were only four league games to play and O’Neill’s side were favourites to lift his fourth title in the Irishman’s fifth year at the club.
TOUCHLINE TORMENT…Martin O’Neill can’t hide his disappointment.
Alarmingly, the home side toppled to a shock reverse and it was Brown who claimed the killer goal late in the game.
The visitors, who hadn’t won at the venue for 13 years, had taken a seventh-minute lead when Derek Riordan, another player who would move to the Hoops, and Brown combined to send Garry O’Connor clear and he left David Marshall helpless with a low angled drive.
Substitute Craig Beattie, who replaced Shaun Maloney, threw the Hoops a lifeline with an acrobatic effort for the equaliser just before the hour mark.
The Celtic fans in the 58,322 crowd roared on their favourites as they went for the winner, but the stadium was struck dumb when Ivan Sproule put the Easter Road men ahead again in the 79th minute.
There was more agony nine minutes from the end when Brown raced onto a long ball before calmly chipping over the unprotected Marshall to seal his team’s victory – and go a long way to condeming Celtic to failure in their pursuit of the crown.
A clearly disappointed O’Neill said: “After beating Rangers, I thought we could allow one more slip up, so we need to win our remaining matches.”
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT…Scott Brown celebrates Hibs’ killer third goal in April 2005 – Martin O’Neill’s last league defeat at Parkhead.
The Hoops led through a Chris Sutton goal, but the roof fell in on the visitors when Scott MacDonald, yet another future Celt, netted a devastating double for Well in the fading moments.
The Ibrox club won 1-0 over Mowbray’s Hibs in Edinburgh and that was enough to give them the title by a solitary point.
O’Neill will be hoping the result from April 2005 will not prove to be an omen when David Gray’s side provide the opposition on this occasion.
The team that lost 3-1 to Hibs that fateful day was: Marshall; McNamara, Balde, Varga, Valgaeren; Petrov, Lennon, Thompson; McGeady (sub: Wallace 69), Hartson, Maloney (sub: Beattie 46). Unused subs: Douglas, Henchoz, Sylla, Lambert, Laursen.
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Celtic v Hibs this afternoon – only in your champion CQN.
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