January 1968 saw the Ghost of Scottish Cup past come back to haunt Celtic, as Dunfermline Athletic returned from Glasgow having knocked the holders out of the cup following a 2-0 victory, a degree of revenge for their defeat in the final three years earlier. The Pars would go on to lift the Scottish Cup in April, beating a Hearts side containing many of the players who had been recent colleagues of both Willie Wallace and the Fifers captain, Roy Barry. This would be the second such success for Athletic, having beaten Celtic in 1961 under Jock Stein.
Saturday, 2 March 1968 was a red-letter day for two Celtic players. Captain Billy McNeill was celebrating his 28th birthday, whilst Willie Wallace would score four goals in the Hoops for the first time, as the Bhoys beat Kilmarnock 6-0 at Rugby Park, Bobby Lennox and substitute Jimmy Quinn adding the others. Almost exactly five years earlier, high-flying Killie had dished out that same punishment to a Celtic side giving a teenage Jimmy Johnstone his senior debut.
March would turn out to be an incredible month for Wallace, the striker grabbing 16 goals in that period. This included hat-tricks against Airdrieonians and Raith Rovers at Celtic Park plus a brace in the St Patrick’s weekend friendly with Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount Park, Dublin. That was the occasion when Jock Stein visited Eamonn de Valera with the European Cup.
Those goals would go a long way towards securing Celtic’s third successive championship, clinched the midweek after Dunfermline Athletic won the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 victory over the Pars, on Wednesday, 30 April 1968, in front of a record crowd of 27,000 at East End Park.
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