LUKE McCOWAN was sent on in the 73rd minute as Wilfried Nancy attempted a rescue mission against St Mirren in the Premier Sports League Cup Final at Hampden in mid-December.
The energetic midfielder replaced the toiling Sebastian Tounekti as the Frenchman, staring at his third consecutive loss after replacing Martin O’Neill earlier in the month, tried to turn around a 2-1 scoreline.
McCowan was on the pitch for three minutes before the Paisley club netted a third and killer goal through Jonah Ayunga.
The £1million recruit from Dundee on summer deadline day in 2024 hardly had a kick at the ball before it was game over.
It completed a Hampden hat-trick from hell for the 28-year-old boyhood Hoops fan.
WHO? ME? Luke McCowan looks a little bewildered during Celtic’s 2-2 Premiership stalemate at Ibrox last month.
McCowan missed the previous season’s penalty-kick shoot-out success in the same tournament over Philippe Clement’s Ibrox side because he was Cup-tied.
He also came off the bench in the team’s mystifyingly lacklustre performance against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final spot-kick loss in May.
And it didn’t get much better against the Saints before the turn of the year.
Now McCowan hopes to obliterate any talk of a hoodoo when O’Neill’s men line up against their League Cup conquerors at the national stadium this afternoon.
Recalling the miserable aftermath on the December flop, the hard-working middle-of-the-park operator admitted: “I didn’t turn a light on in my house.
“It’s never nice. I think it’s just about knowing what to avoid after that game – to avoid any more disappointment.
“So, I missed out in the Premier Sports Cup this season while I didn’t play the previous season as I was Cup-tied.
“It’s probably why the last one maybe hurt me a wee bit more. But I need to take emotion away from it.
AIR WE GO…Luke McCowan celebrates after scoring in Celtic’s 5-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on May 14 last season – 10 days before they blew the Scottish Cup Final against the same opponents.
“It’s about putting on a performance. That’s my main goal. It’s so hard for any guys who come through here as Celtic fans to not put emotion into the games.
“But it puts you in good stead if you can take that away and play with a calm head.
“Even if I don’t start, it’s about coming on and trying to impact the game as well as you can and putting on a good performance personally and collectively.
“So, it’s one to look forward to.”
McCowan also wants to make sure the team win this semi-final to set up a last hurrah for 74-year-old O’Neill who will leave the club next month after responding to a second SOS during a turbulent campaign.
The former Dens Park captain believes many others – even Celtic fans – of his age wouldn’t have answered the call and is determined the charismatic Irishman says farewell in style with a grand finale against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline on May 23.
McCowan, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “Oh, 100 per cent. I know what a legend he is.
FLASHPOINT…referee John Beaton intervenes as Luke McCowan and Mo Diomande exchange opinions at Ibrox.
“If you’re going to do it for anybody, you’re going to do it for him and the guys who are here who have put so much into the club.
“He’ll be as hungry as ever. And even the meetings he has with us, he’s so determined to make us play as well as we can and right any little mistakes that we might make in games.
“He pushes us as hard as he can and pushes all the staff. A lot of men, as much as they like to think they love a Celtic, probably with the background he’s had might not have answered the phone!
“So, I think he’s done absolutely amazing. All the players absolutely love him.
“He sat down a couple of times with me and asked me the kind of history of my footballing career.
“Even just seeing him coming in and just being that age and still that determined, that hungry to learn off all his younger coaches and still trying to add his style and his footprint.
“But just to have that same hunger and almost love for the club at that age is commendable.
“So, it’s been great to be playing under him.”
Facing up to this afternoon’s challenge at the national stadium, McCowan added: “We know that we need to be at it.
I’LL DRINK TO THAT…Martin O’Neill takes a swig as he watches Celtic overcome St Mirren 1-0 in the Premiership encounter at Parkhead last weekend.
“It’s a St Mirren team that will be hungry to prove something to their new manager and put them in good stead for the rest of their season and build their confidence.
“So, if we’re not at it, we’re not going to get through.
“It’s about every game as it comes. That’s the message from now to end the season – no game is bigger than the other.
“We were lucky enough to play St Mirren last week. They’ll know how we play, we know how they play and it’s about who can cancel the other team out the best.
“Whoever does that goes through to the Final.”
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