Turn the channel to the BBC this afternoon and chances are you will be greeted with a white ball careering over beautiful green pastures towards a bulging net. “Where’s the cue ball going?” bellows the celebrated refrain from John Virgo.
That’s right, the national broadcasters have not secured the rights to the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final encounter between St Johnstone and Celtic and instead will be showing the interminable early rounds of the World Snooker Championship from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Another of vaunted co-commentator Virgo’s greatest hits which might be more apt for this afternoon’s Hampden encounter, meanwhile, is his salutary “he couldn’t have placed it any better with his hand” riposte whenever a be-waistcoated cueman executes the perfect positional shot.
Brendan Rodgers’ runaway Premiership leaders Celtic were pulled out of the hat to face the division’s seemingly perennially snookered side, after all, while Hearts and Aberdeen were left to slug it out like Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis for 120 minutes plus in Mount Florida yesterday.
But anyone writing off Simo Valakari’s side’s chances must have forgotten what happened just a fortnight ago when these two sides met in Perth on league duty – or indeed the beleaguered club’s recent history.
Off the back of a 3-0 Premiership trouncing to Hibernian a week previously, St Johnstone pulled off the shock result of the season as Celtic failed to find a reply to Daniels Balodis’ fourth-minute strike which clinched a 1-0 victory that has kept their faint survival hopes alive.
One man who is not taking the Saints lightly is Celtic full-back Anthony Ralston. The Scotland internationalist has had his feet in both camps having spent a season on loan in Perth in 2019-20, and he cites the 24 appearances he made for the McDiarmid Park club, including two victories in the Scottish Cup, as formational in his development as a player.
It was eventual winners Celtic who knocked them out at the quarter-final stage at McDairmid Park, although Ralston was not involved against his parent club. No one of a Perth persuasion, however, will need much reminding of what occurred the following season when Callum Davidson did the unthinkable and lifted a League Cup and Scottish Cup double. Ralston, therefore, knows that this is a club which can manage a great escape even when they’re firmly behind the cueball.
“I enjoyed my loan. I was young at the time and getting game time on a consistent basis was what I needed. Saints gave me it and it stood me in good stead moving forward into my Celtic career,” Ralston said.
“Everyone at McDiarmid treated me well and treated my family really well when they would come up for match days.
“Obviously that was a while ago now, though, and I have a job to do for Celtic.”
Asked if the recent defeat to St Johnstone was a reminder against complacency, Ralston added: “For sure. You don’t take any game for granted. We weren’t at our best and it was a disappointing result, but we have learned from that.
“It was fair play to St Johnstone on the day, but we have put it right since with a great performance against Killie. Morale is on a high and we are looking forward to the Cup tie.”
Despite missing out on the cup double heroics at McDiarmid Park the season after he returned to his boyhood club, Ralston has been involved in his fair share of Hampden showpieces since then, with one in particular firmly lodged in his memory.
“Yeah, every game is important when you are a Celtic player, but these are the ones you need to win to give yourself the opportunity to actually get your hands on the trophy, so we are all fully focused,” Ralston added.
“The semi two years ago when Jota scored the winner against Rangers is a positive memory and we are hoping to create more of those on Sunday.”
Ralston is not the only player in the Celtic squad to have come through the academy to feature in the first team during recent successful campaigns, and he cites operating alongside the likes of James Forrest and Callum McGregor as an inspiration not just to the younger generation, but also to himself in terms of the successes he hopes to still enjoy with the club.
“For sure, if you look at it as an academy player coming through the system, you look at these type of players who have had so much success,” Ralston said.
“My aim is to work my way through the years and get as close to that as possible. What these guys have done over their time has been an amazing achievement. It is something that gives me a lot of hope and inspiration to keep working every day to try and achieve similar success, which is obviously a really hard ask.
“Looking at them keeps me humble which is a good thing as well. You need to have a winning mentality installed in you to be a Celtic player. We are built on winning trophies, we are built on success – that is what we strive for.
“Even in training it is there. You don’t want to be on the losing side in games. We have that mentality in abundance, in the players but also in the coaches and the staff.
“We need to use that to finish the season on a high.”
Forrest, 33, may have been a peripheral figure under Rodgers this season, but his haul of 25 major trophies with Celtic places him in the pantheon of greats in terms of silverware success with the club. But there is one unexpected area where Ralston has eclipsed his fellow academy graduate this season.
After scoring to make it 5-1 after coming off the bench against Killie last week, Ralston raised his tally for the season above his countryman.
“It was a great feeling for me [scoring against Kilmarnock],” Ralston said. “I don’t often get to see the ball hit the net from one of my shots!
“I hadn’t done it since the start of the season and the fact it was at Celtic Park makes it especially enjoyable.”
Should he find himself in the frame this afternoon, scoring to help Celtic reach another Hampden showpiece would represent the maximum break in his career so far.
