For once he got his timing perfect, 24 hours after the appointment of Brendan Rodgers Anthony Stokes sent the new Celtic boss a reminder of what he is capable of.
Since he signed for Celtic in 2010 the Irishman has been used to getting written off. Under Neil Lennon there were a few flashpoints that got soothed over, under Ronny Deila the fall-out led to exile in Leith.
Four months in the Championship hardly created a case for a triumphant return to Celtic, 90 minutes at Hampden opened the door.
From the third minute when he opened the scoring to the shot at goal that led to the corner for the decisive header from David Gray the Scottish Cup Final was turned into a showcase for Stokes.
There was barely any need for a formal man-of-the-match award, from start to finish the loan Celt dominated proceedings making the highly rated Blue Cafu look like a run-of-the-mill journeyman.
The $64m question is whether that form can be replicated on a consistent basis for Celtic- assuming that he is given a chance by Rodgers.
After being announced as the new Celtic manager on Friday Rodgers will have been bombarded by by advise, being diplomatic the stories about Stokes are likely to have been mixed.
Lennon rarely let him loose on the big stage, Rangers (IL) matches and European ties seemed strictly off limit, yesterday with the pressure on Stokes presented the case for another chance at Celtic.
Two goals highlighted his performance but there was much much more, afterwards it was obvious that confidence will never be an issue for the Dubliner.
“A hat-trick was probably a dream but I wasn’t far off,” he stated. “It was a special day and it was an entertaining game. I thought we got a deserved win as overall we edged it on chances.
“I take stick every year, every week. Is it sweet for me? Of course but I’ve always said that I don’t doubt my own ability.
“It’s the old saying about form being temporary. That’s the way it is. I keep my head and keep working hard and don’t worry about missing chances.
“I could have had two or three goals in the first half but I didn’t let my head go down. It all worked out and you couldn’t write the script for what happened.”
As he watches Ireland in the European Championships Stokes will think over what might have been, when Celtic return for pre-season training he can demonstrate to Rodgers that Hampden wasn’t his swansong.
