Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brend’s a Bhoy wonder
Celtic go through the season unbeaten
LEIGH GRIFFITHS admits a chilling death-stare from boss Brendan Rodgers refocused his own sights on being a success at Celtic. The striker was bang in trouble four days ago for his petulant outburst at the boss after being substituted in the 5-0 win over Partick Thistle. Griffiths (below) sent an apology to his gaffer by text the following morning to apologise for being disrespectful and did his talking on the park yesterday as Celtic strolled to victory over Hearts to secure an Invincible title term. The hitman scored the opener with a header and created a second for Stuart Armstrong as the champions celebrated trophy day with another win. Griffiths was just grateful to be involved after Rodgers gave him a look which burned right through him at Firhill. He said: “I got the stare of death on the bench. That was enough to tell me enough was enough. “But, after the game, the gaffer drew a line under it and we moved on. “Listen, I spoke to the gaffer after the game. It was one of those ones where I didn’t want to be going off but he explained why I was taken off. It is just one of those things. I got back in training and the gaffer said that a line had been drawn under it. “The boys were giving me a bit of stick after it and I saw a lot of people on Twitter giving me abuse but I knew after the game the gaffer had drawn a line under it and I was looking forward. “I was delighted to be back playing on the pitch scoring goals.” Rodgers said Griffiths sent him a text at 7am Friday morning and the striker laughed: “I wouldn’t say it was seven o’clock. I think he needs to check his clock, although it was kind of early I must admit. “But I just wanted to get my message across that I shouldn’t have done what I did. “It was disrespectful towards him, towards my team-mates, towards the fans. “It was a moment of madness and I apologised for it.” Rodgers gave him a kiss afterwards and Griffiths smiled: “To be fair, I didn’t expect that!” “Every title is great but as long as we didn’t get beaten, we knew we were going to be Invincibles. “That was the message going out at the start of the game. It is a great achievement for everybody at the club. We have now got one big push to go next week.” Griffiths, of course, was referring to the Scottish Cup final and the chance to clinch a Treble by sinking Aberdeen. Celtic will be rightly confident but Griffiths warned: “Listen, we are under no illusions that Aberdeen will bring their A game. “They are a really good side and on their day they can beat anybody. “But if Aberdeen slip up, they will have a really difficult afternoon. “If we bring our A game we will have a really good chance of winning that cup.”