Three months later, Haughney’s place would be taken by John Donnelly in a Glasgow Cup clash at the same venue. Both matches had been lost, and Celtic’s record at Ibrox was such that the players would presumably travel for the League clash there on Saturday, 21 September 1957 more in hope than expectation, despite the 9-goal aggregate mauling of Third Lanark which had taken them into the last four of the League Cup for the second successive season. The Bhoys had not won a League match in Govan since that very day in 1935, exactly 22 years earlier, when a Hoops side minus top scorer Jimmy McGrory had come back from a goal down to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Frank Murphy and Johnny Crum, Joe Kennaway saving a late penalty from Davie Meiklejohn. But such records are there to be broken, and broken it was by the following team.
Dick Beattie; John Donnelly & Sean Fallon; Willie Fernie, Bobby Evans & Bertie Peacock;
Jim Sharkey, Bobby Collins, Billy McPhail, Sammy Wilson & Charlie Tully.
The hosts included two new signings in their half-back line, Alan Austin from Kilmarnock and John Valentine from Queen’s Park, as they sought a third consecutive home victory over Celts.
A superb solo effort from Bobby Collins gave Celtic the lead within 20 minutes, Billy Simpson heading an equaliser just before the break. Ten minutes into the second half, Billy McPhail nodded the visitors in front from a Collins free-kick, to the delight of the huge Celtic support behind Billy Ritchie’s goal. They would be celebrating again just after the hour mark, McPhail turning provider as Sammy Wilson met his cross perfectly to make it 3-1. Simpson would quickly reduce the leeway, however, Celts would withstand late pressure to record a rare and much welcome victory at the home of their fierce rivals.
There would be a Groundhog Day feel as the Celtic fans made their way in their thousands to Ibrox again seven days later, albeit this time the opposition was Clyde in a repeat of the last-four clash in the League Cup 12 months earlier. Celts had won that day by 2-0 and they would again finish two goals clear by the end of play in Govan, the déjà vu sensation continuing as the three Hooped goalscorers from the previous week were on the mark again, Wilson and McPhail building a two-goal lead which was lost before Collins edged Celts back in front before the hour, Willie Fernie completing the scoring with the sixth and final goal of the afternoon. Celtic manager Jimmy McGrory had made two changes as his men booked a return trip to defend their trophy at Hampden with a 4-2 win, Eric Smith and Bertie Auld coming in on either flanks in place of Jim Sharkey and the injured Charlie Tully.
Their opponents at Hampden in the sunshine three weeks later would be two-time winners Rangers, no doubt smarting from their recent defeat by Celtic at Ibrox. They had enjoyed a comfortable passage to the final having been paired with Second Division Brechin City, the Angus club appearing in their first-ever national semi-final going down by four goals to nil. An international break meant there was only one fixture played between the two final rounds, Celts 1-1 draw with Raith Rovers at home hardly the ideal preparation as they chased just a third national trophy in the decade since competitive football had returned after the war.
Thus, Celtic were widely considered underdogs against the reigning League champions as the following team ran out in front of 82,000 spectators at 2.40pm on Saturday, 19 October 1957.
Dick Beattie; John Donnelly & Sean Fallon; Willie Fernie, Bobby Evans & Bertie Peacock;
Charlie Tully, Bobby Collins, Billy McPhail, Sammy Wilson & Neil Mochan.
Just as Peter Goldie had suffered before the Scottish Cup final the previous year, so would Bertie Auld that afternoon. The young winger had featured in all of the League Cup ties since making his breakthrough halfway through the sectional stage. He would now give way to the experience of Tully and Mochan, and thus be unable to add this match to the wonderful list of iconic and historic Celtic events in which he would participate later in his career. The 1965 Scottish Cup final, where it all began. Lisbon, the Quintuple and World Club Championship final two years later. Six League titles in a row, another Treble and a further Double. And a second European Cup final, following the historic victories over Leeds United in front of the largest attendance ever at a UEFA match. Bertie would have his days in the sun in the future.
He would not add the 7-1 game to that incredible list, on an afternoon which will never be forgotten by those whose blood runs green-and-white. Both Bobby Collins and Charlie Tully had already struck George Niven’s woodwork before Sammy Wilson’s rasping shot gave Celts the lead midway through the first half, Collins crashing a 30-yard free-kick off the crossbar and Neil Mochan firing past the Ibrox keeper on the stroke of half-time for 2-0 when in truth it could have been anything. The procession continued after the interval, Billy McPhail beating Niven in the air to add a third before Billy Simpson took advantage of an injury to Bobby Evans to claw a goal back on the hour.
The best was yet to come. Within 15 minutes, both McPhail and Mochan had completed their personal doubles to take the tally to 5-1, the former Clyde striker then toying with Rangers centre-half John Valentine to add a sixth with 10 minutes remaining and claim a cup-final hat-trick against the Ibrox side. That had been achieved by the mighty Jimmy Quinn at the same venue in the Scottish Cup final of 1904 then again at Hampden in 1950 by someone a bit closer to home, his brother John, in the Glasgow Charity Cup final ‘in front of Danny Kaye,’ as the song goes. John and Billy McPhail remained the only brothers to achieve that feat in over 120 years of competition in this fixture before the liquidation of Rangers in 2012.
Meanwhile, back at Hampden in the Sun in October 1957, there was a final act from the genius Willie Fernie. As not for the first or last time, the battles raged and the spectators fled from the Mount Florida end of Hampden as their team caved in on a big occasion, McPhail again taunted Valentine in the box and in came the challenge for a penalty kick. Resisting the urge to score an unprecedented fourth goal in the fixture, Billy would cede to the winger-come-right-half with the magic touch. Up he stepped to dispatch the seventh past Niven and make history, 7-1 beating Renton’s victory over Cambuslang back in, of course, 1888, to set a new landmark for major cup finals on this island.
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