NO DEVINE INSPIRATION BUT CALEY JAGS TAKE PRIDE FROM DEFEAT
Defender praises gutsy Inverness’ display after they are crushed by Ange’s Celtic juggernaut
THE story of the 2022-23 Scottish Cup has featured some incredible drama but one last remarkable twist in the tale did not materialise at Hampden.
After being knocked out of the tournament in the fourth round, Inverness Caley Thistle were unable to take the second chance handed to them when Queen’s Park fielded an ineligible player in their 2-0 third round win in the Highlands in January.
Yet as the beaten Caley Thistle players slumped to the Hampden turf at full-time, the standing ovation from their fans at the end of this final told its own story.
A team that had finished sixth in the Championship and had not kicked a competitive ball for a month had been up against a juggernaut of a Celtic side that had swatted all before them on the domestic front.
Ange Postecoglou’s side may have found the Champions League too tough a nut to crack but Caley Thistle’s players had also watched the Scottish champions impressively go toe-to-toe for the opening 45 minutes with reigning European champions Real Madrid at Parkhead back in September.
Yet when Daniel MacKay’s flashing header found the Celtic net after a wonderful Wallace Duffy cross, remarkably, Caley Thistle were chasing extra-time with six minutes left.
Ultimately, they could not reach parity as Jota added to goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada to wrap up a 3-1 win and a fifth Treble in seven years.
And if it’s fair to say Celtic were uncharacteristically poor amid the speculation over Postecoglou’s departure, Caley Thistle deserved credit for their showing before finally succumbing to a far superior set of players.
The last time Danny Devine walked out of Hampden Park after a Scottish Cup final, he was sporting a winner’s medal and a grin as wide as the Clyde.
That was in 2015 after a Caley Thistle side that had just finished third in the Premiership had beaten Championship Falkirk to win their first major piece of major silverware.
While there was disappointment in defeat, the Caley Thistle defender insists there was a lot to admire from his side in this valiant but ultimately unsuccessful David v Goliath contest.
‘Of course we are proud,’ said Devine.
‘This is football and you win some, you lose some. We had that amazing time in 2015 but this is us on the other end of it.
‘Celtic are the best team in the country and they have top players and we take pride from still being in the game with six minutes remaining.
‘I remember watching them play Real Madrid at home in the Champions League earlier this season and, in the first half, they were unbelievable. I felt we managed them for large parts of the final.
‘I know we weren’t as much of a threat going forwards as we would have liked to have been. But I thought we stifled them for as long as we could and we got the goal back. But they are a good team and they deserved to win.’
Trying to track the movement of the all-action Japan striker Furuhashi is tough enough on a normal day let alone when the south side of Glasgow is basking in a heatwave.
It was an energy-sapping afternoon for the Caley Thistle defenders but Devine knows he was culpable when he let Furuhashi get away to grab the opening goal with the striker’s first chance of the game on 38 minutes.
‘Kyogo Furuhashi doesn’t actually do much off the ball,’ said Devine.
‘I think he rests off the ball. But then “bang”, he’s away and he has that sharpness. He took his goal well and, obviously, I’m bitterly disappointed with that first goal. If you give him that half-yard, he will punish you. But you are trying to watch the ball and Celtic have got other players moving around.
‘Greg Taylor found himself in the No 10 position a few times, so you’re trying to watch that as well. And Furuhashi is there hanging off the back of you, not doing much, then he springs into action. That’s his game, he’s very sharp. But it was a sore one to take.’
Caley Thistle were without a game since their league season came to a crushing halt on May 5 when Mark McKenzie’s late winner for Ayr United at Caledonian Stadium denied Inverness a place in the play-offs.
Devine is in no doubt that the better team won in Sunday’s final but he believes not having a match for a month was far from ideal.
He said: ‘We planned to frustrate Celtic and hold them off for as long as possible. We hoped once we got control of the ball that we could maybe make something happen. But it’s not easy.
‘Four weeks without a game is tough, especially when your first competitive game back is against a great Celtic team.
‘Of course, not playing in four weeks played a part. You can’t emulate game situations in training — that competitive edge, the sharpness. You just can’t do it. But the four-week break isn’t the reason we lost. We could have had games all the way up and run out of steam.
‘Celtic are an incredible team. But we did ourselves proud in terms of sticking to our task.
‘We would have liked to have been a bit braver and created some more chances but it’s difficult.
‘All credit to Celtic. It’s a sore one for us but it was still a great achievement getting to the final.
‘Now we look forward to next season. We are a club that constantly needs to rebuild.
‘We have a good mix of experienced boys who have been around the block and been in the Premiership before and we have some good young lads coming through.
‘There are players out of contract. But I think there is a Premiership team here within our dressing room.’