Celtic are Premiership champions for 53rd time after beating 10-man Hearts

The Hoops have now won 12 of the last 13 Scottish top flight titles

CHAMPIONS AGAIN OLE OLE: Celtic celebrate after the cinch Premiership match at Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh. Picture date: Sunday May 7, 2023. PA Photo. See PA Story SOCCER Hearts. Photo credit: Steve Welsh/PA Wire.

For 43 minutes, this was not at all going to Celtic’s script. With victory over Hearts needed to secure a successful defence of the Scottish Premiership, Ange Postecoglou’s team were rocking in a manner rarely witnessed on the domestic scene. What was to follow should really have been obvious, even if the whiff of controversy was attached to it.

The Edinburgh club’s buoyancy was duly and effectively ended by the dismissal of Alex Cochrane. The prospect of Celtic heading to Ibrox next Saturday looking to claim the flag also basically ended as Cochrane headed for the dressing room.

Kyogo Furuhashi, who has a useful habit of scoring against Hearts, flicked home the goal that had looked inevitable midway through the second half. Oh Hyeon-gyu converted an Aaron Mooy cross to add gloss to Celtic’s victory. They are the champions of Scotland once more; an outcome no observer can reasonably argue with.

Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates after the cinch Premiership match at Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh. Picture date: Sunday May 7, 2023. PA Photo. See PA Story SOCCER Hearts. Photo credit should read: Steve Welsh/PA Wire.

Hearts and their interim manager, Steven Naismith, will inevitably dispute the act of officialdom which blunted their optimism. Cochrane had been caught out by a pass from deep by Tony Ralston, with the referee Nick Walsh initially believing a yellow card was sufficient for the full-back’s tug on Daizen Maeda.

Willie Collum in the VAR room had other ideas; Walsh was sent to the pitchside monitor, from where he decided Cochrane had denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. A knock-on effect and key impact for Hearts was the enforced removal of Yutaro Oda, whose pressing from the right side of attack had troubled Celtic. Hearts, though, should also assess their failure to score when in the ascendancy.

Celtic were not exactly bombarding the goal of Zander Clark in the second period but with a one-man advantage, they always looked the more likely team. Furuhashi made a trademark near-post run to meet a low cross from Reo Hatate after Callum McGregor had cutely found his fellow midfielder.

Oh, who replaced Furuhashi moments after the opener, was on hand to finish from close range to make it 2-0. The goal, very similar to the first, this time came via Celtic’s left flank.

Next weekend’s derby against Rangers is now irrelevant for Celtic. Inverness and a Scottish Cup final on 3 June stand between Postecoglou and a domestic clean sweep. That feels a formality.

HEARTS (4-2-3-1): Clark; Hill, Rowles, Sibbick, Cochrane; Haring, Devlin (Kio 74); McKay (Grant 81), Ginnelly (Humphreys 81), Oda (Kingsley 43); Shankland.

CELTIC (4-3-3): Hart; Ralston, Starfelt, Kobayashi, Taylor; McGregor, Hatate (Iwata 86), O’Riley (Mooy 70); Jota (Haksabanovic 79), Furuhashi (Oh 70), Maeda (Abada 79).

Referee: Nick Walsh.

Guardian