After their 2-1 win over Hamilton Accies in the quarter-final of the SFA Youth Cup it would have been difficult to tell if Stevie Frail had just watched his side win.
Little went right for Celtic after Luke Donnelly’s early double with Jordan Hart the star man in goals ensuring that the match never went to extra-time.
Thursday’s semi-final win was an entirely different story, not just because Donnelly scored four times in a 6-0 rout of Hibs.
From number 1 to 11 for 90 minutes Celtic dominated, playing with purpose and confidence and getting the rewards for their shift.
Right-back Sam Wardrop was involved in three of the goals, Eoghan O’Connell enjoyed an hour playing the defensive midfield role while Donnelly put in a near perfect performance scoring four times in the ‘Johansen’ role as the central attacking midfielder.
“We won in the last round but the performance was poor, it wasn’t what we are looking for,” Frail recalled. “Against Hibs was as good as I’ve seen for a long, long time.
“The performance at Manchester City was good but slightly different, it was controlled, working hard and playing on the counter a bit but this was on the front foot from first whistle to last, so, so pleasing.
“Hibs are a good side with decent young players, the good thing was that we got the first goal and then the second soon after, and also the third. The quality of goals and some of the passages of play showed what we are striving to do.
“It’s pleasing when it comes off, there was a real purpose about our play.”
Donnelly opened the scoring in the 17th minute showing quick feet in the box with Fiacre Kelleher powering home a header two minutes later before Blair Currie created space in the penalty box for the third. Before the break Donnelly was perfectly positioned to drive home a cut-back from Currie to kill off any hopes Hibs harboured.
Taking Donnelly back from the sole striker role, that he had occupied with his double against Hamilton, worked a treat with Frail keeping the source of that switch a closely guarded secret.
“The day before the game we had shaped up with Luke up front,” he added. “I should say that it was me that suggested to think of Luke as the number 10 but it might have been Chris (McCart) or Tommy (McIntyre). It was a joint decision and you could see the quality in his game.
“Luke led the line against Hamilton, young Rory probably wasn’t going to start but Joe Thomson picked up an injury and at first we thought bring in Rory (Currie) and play him wide.
“He was excellent in the Glasgow Cup Final, he led the line well and against Hibs he created pockets for Luke to drop into.
“Scoring four is a great achievement, he showed good awareness and positioned himself well, he made the goals look easy and took them with great conviction.”
CELTIC: Hart; Wardrop, Kelleher, Findlay, Tierney; O’Connell (Murray 62), McManus; Nesbitt (Archibald 78), Donnelly, Waters; Currie (Lafferty 78)
SUBS: McCart, McCabe
FRAIL ON CURRIE: “Rory has been in the system a while, he went with us in pre-season to Turriff and did really well. He has always shown when he has stepped up an age level that he has something. I’m pleased he did so well and got on the scoresheet”
FRAIL ON MIDFIELDER O’CONNELL: “We gave him 30 minutes against St Johnstone in the previous game and playing in midfield would help his fitness. We did that with a view to the Hibs match and it worked well.
FRAIL ON WARDOP: “Sam started in the Champions League last season in Milan and never really got to the right level this season. He came back from pre-season with an injury and it’s been stop start but in the last few games we’ve seen him improving every day. The runs he put in have been really pleasing, it’s great to see that level of improvement.”
Tonight Celtic’s Development side travel to meet St Mirren, kick off 6pm at St Mirren Park.
