Danny Devine thought Kyogo was resting in the Hampden sun for the majority of his 59 minutes cup final action.
But it was the Inverness defender caught napping for a split second by a classic Furuhashi run that proved key as Celtic made the breakthrough and left Inverness in the shade. The Highlanders had kept the Hoops’ star man quiet for the opening 37 minutes with a stifling game plan that was being deployed to perfection. But when the Japanese ace turned it on for one devastating front post run Billy Dodds’ side had no answer.
To be fair better teams and players have failed to handle Kyogo’s lightning quick movement in the box these past two years. It didn’t help that Caley Thistle had to wait four weeks without a competitive game to face the best team in Scotland.
They were far from caught cold though as Daniel MacKay’s 84th minute header halved the deficit and gave the 6500 fans in the blue and red corner hope of a second Hampden fairytale in eight years. Devine, a veteran of that 2015 Scottish Cup triumph, insists every one of Dodds’ players can hold their heads up high after pushing the all-conquering Hoops all the way in the blistering Hampden heat.
The Northern Irishman said: “I actually thought the heat affected them as well as us. I thought it was a very sluggish game. Maybe it was because we sat in and they were being patient.
"I thought Kyogo doesn’t do much off the ball. I think he rests off the ball. Then bang he’s away and he has that sharpness. Obviously he took his goal well and obviously I’m bitterly disappointed with the first goal. But if you give him that half yard he will punish you.
“You’re trying to watch the ball then they’ve got other players. I think Greg Taylor found himself in the No10 position a few times so you’re trying to watch that.
“Kyogo is there hanging off the back of you not doing much then he springs into action. That’s his game, he’s very sharp. It was a sore one to take.”
Devine walked out of Hampden clutching a winners’ medal when John Hughes led Caley Thistle to a fairytale Scottish Cup triumph in 2015. It’s a feat that will most likely be unmatched in the 30-year-old’s career.
But while there was greater joy at the end of the 2015 final, Devine insists the sense of pride in his side is every bit as strong as eight years ago after dumping Livingston and Kilmarnock on their way to the final where they gave Celtic a fright. He said: “Of course. This is sport, this is football. You win some, you lose some.
“Celtic are the best team in the country. We learn from it. We had that amazing time in 2015 but this is us on the other end of it. Where the club has come in such a short space of time is incredible. Two cup finals in eight years. We look forward and we keep looking to build on what we’ve done so far.
“Celtic have top players. I remember watching the Real Madrid game and in the first half they were unbelievable. We managed them for large parts of the game. 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 got the goal back. Obviously anything can happen. We hoped once we got control of the ball we could maybe make something happen. But it’s not easy, it’s four weeks without a game and it’s tough.
“Especially when your first competitive game is against a great Celtic team. 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 could have ran out of steam.”
Caley Thistle now face a huge summer as they look to improve on this season’s sixth-place Championship finish. Thirteen players are out of contract and two more - Jay Henderson and goal hero MacKay - head back to their parent clubs. Devine is one of the 13 and admits the cup final may be his last appearance for the club.
But if he does sign on again the former Dunfermline and Partick Thistle defender hopes the majority of the other free agents do likewise because he insists Caley have shown they can mix it with the best.
He said: “It’s a club that constantly needs to rebuild. Players move on and we’ll see what happens. If I’m still around next season then we go again and we keep defying the odds in that sense.
“I think we have a good mix of experienced boys who have been around the block and been in the Premiership for a number of years. We have some good young lads coming through so it’s just about building. We went close to getting back in the Premiership.
“We didn’t have a lot of rest coming into this season and all the injuries. If I’m still here we need to keep looking to build but we’ll see what happens in the summer.”
