McCart wasn’t offside for his ‘goal’, admits rival Mulraney
IT was a conversation between friends that confirmed everything Jamie McCart had feared.
Indeed, it was Hearts winger Jake Mulraney who had played the ball straight to him by virtue of a sliding tackle on Joe Chalmers just after the hour.
McCart’s wonder ‘goal’ at Hampden, a beautiful curling effort that went up and over floundering Hearts goalkeeper Bobby Zlamal, should have stood.
It should have been 1-1 at a stage in a largely atrocious Scottish Cup semi-final in which the pendulum was clearly swinging Inverness Caley Thistle’s way.
Instead, John Souttar made it 2-0 for the Tynecastle club four minutes later and the Highlanders’ dream was dead.
At time-up, McCart received confirmation from his former Inverness team-mate Mulraney of the fact that, behind the last defender or not, he should not have been flagged offside.
And he cannot help but feel the game would have been different had referee Don Robertson and linesman Graeme Stewart been a little more on the ball.
‘Jake came up to me after the game, because I know him, and said he passed it straight to me,’ admitted McCart (below).
‘Technically, I think that should stand. In the heat of the game, with a lot of bodies around, it is hard for officials to see wee touches or maybe what they think is a touch.
‘I could see him straight away and that is why I moved across and read the pass. It is a bit gutting, to be honest — especially after a good finish at that stage in the game.
‘It was a big moment. I think it was just at the last moment that the linesman put his flag up.
‘It took until they scored for us to get going and then they hit us with another sucker punch after it. If it goes to 1-1, though, it makes everything different and that’s the most disappointing thing.’
Mulraney left Hampden clutching the sponsors’ Man-of-the-Match champagne and was candid when asked to corroborate McCart’s assertion that he played the ball to him rather than Chalmers.
‘I think I did,’ said the Dubliner. ‘I slide tackled the boy and thought I had nicked it off him. Do I have sympathy for Jamie? It’s football. Mistakes happen. There’s nothing you can do.’
Chalmers, meanwhile, pointed out that the trajectory of the ball made it clear that Mulraney touched it rather than him.
‘It was Jake who had the last touch, but, at the time, it didn’t quite click,’ he said. ‘When we spoke about it afterwards, I then realised maybe it shouldn’t have been flagged.
‘I’ve gone to shape it to the back post and the reason it has gone to the front post is because he got a toe on it to direct it to Jamie.’ From Mulraney’s perspective, though, there is no time to dwell on the past. Indeed, should Celtic beat Aberdeen this afternoon to join Hearts in the final, the 23-year-old might have some split loyalties to handle within his family in Ireland.
‘All my uncles and my cousins support Celtic,’ said Mulraney. ‘A few of my pals are also Celtic fans. If they get through, it will be an awkward day. It will be heaving with them.
‘I’d watch Celtic because all of my uncles would be watching their games but I wasn’t a diehard fan.’
Hearts were booed off at half-time yesterday and manager Craig Levein has been under increasing fire after some poor performances of late.
But Mulraney has called for a sense of perspective.
‘We’ve had an alright season given we lost the likes of Uche (Ikpeazu), John Souttar, Christophe (Berra) and Steven Naismith. ‘We’re still in contention for Europe and we have a cup final. We’ve done okay.’ For McCart, there is nothing to do other than believe his own time will come. His father Chris, who is now head of Celtic’s academy system, won the Scottish Cup with Motherwell at the age of 24. McCart junior is just 21 and hopes his next moment in the spotlight at Hampden will provide something more rewarding. He said. ‘This has been a massive experience at Hampden, so I hope it can still happen for me.’