Scales on journey from Darvel disaster to Celtic Scottish Cup date with destiny

The Liam Scales story is, by now, well worn.

He’s the man who came from nowhere to seize an unlikely opportunity at the heart of the Celtic defence, made himself a mainstay of Brendan Rodgers’ side, won a new long-term contract and forced his way into the Republic of Ireland team along the way.

But his redemption arc reaches further back than just the start of this season, when he returned from a hit-and-miss loan experience at Aberdeen to the outer fringes of the Celtic squad. During his time at Pittodrie, he also had the indignity of being part of the side who lost humiliatingly – and deservedly - to Darvel in the Scottish Cup.

So, his memories of the tournament are currently less than favourable, but all that could be about to change over the course of the next few days.

Scales is a certainty to partner Cameron Carter-Vickers at centre-back for Celtic as the champions look to add the Scottish Cup to their trophy cabinet by beating Rangers at Hampden, and if he is to climb those steps at the national stadium to hoist the cup aloft, what an ending it would be to the Irishman’s fairytale turnaround.

“Eighteen months ago I was at Aberdeen and we got knocked out of the cup by Darvel and had back-to-back heavy league defeats in the space of a week,” Scales said.

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“So, to go from being that low to this high is massive. I suppose that experience up there has also helped me get to where I am now.

“[Winning the cup] would be as far away from that night in Darvel as you can get! That’s the plan. We’re fully focused on that now.

“Our celebrations at the weekend weren’t as big as they were the other night. We had a nice little weekend and now we’re totally focused as everyone here wants the double and we’re striving to achieve that.”

What that night in Darvel has also helped Scales to do is to maintain his perspective when Celtic were coming under fire for some sub-par showings earlier in the campaign.

“There have been times this season when the performances haven’t been as good as they should have been,” he said.

“I always thought that, well, I was at that point 18 months ago with Aberdeen and I managed to get back to this stage, so it was just a low point, and you have to bounce back. And I have used that to get through tough times this season as well.”

Those tough times seemed a world away from the buoyant celebrations at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon, as goals from Matt O’Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi and Luis Palma helped the champions shake off a game St Mirren outfit, who had led twice through a Mark O’Hara double.

That put the icing on the cake of the title triumph for Scales, and he is hoping that the Scottish Cup will be the cherry on top of a season that was always a personal success story, and is now a collective one.

Those weekend celebrations were a chance not only to reflect on what has happened this season, but to give thanks to the people who supported him in those bad times, and who helped put him where he is now.

“It was brilliant,” he said.

“I was here two years ago and that was a different feeling as I wasn’t as much a part of it as I’ve been this year. It’s great to finish off the season in front of our fans, to get the reception that we got and then to win the game at the end as well.

“That was what we wanted to do and I enjoyed it so much. I’m just letting it sink in now.

“I had my girlfriend here, my brother was over and a few friends. They all enjoyed it and had a great day, as I have. It’s nice to share this moment with them.

“My family have always followed and supported me. My parents aren’t here today as they’re away in Europe at a wedding, but they would have loved to have been here. The amount of help and everything that I’ve had from them – over the years they’ve really supported me.

"We’ve been through the good times but also the tough times which has been brilliant.

“I have to also give a shout out to Pat Devlin. He’s been my advisor since I was about 17 or 18. He got me here and helped me through so many times, so I have to also give him a big thank you.”

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As for the remaining challenge that lies ahead this term, it is one that Celtic have overcome three times this season already in the shape of Rangers, with the sides drawing in their other meeting. That record gives them confidence, but Scales is also guarding against complacency.

“We can look at that in a way that, we know if we perform well we’ll have a good chance of winning the game,” he said.

“But we also know that if we don’t get to our levels we could easily lose the game.

“It’s a cup final and anything can happen. You can take positive things from those results but if you get carried away and think we’re going to stroll it then we’ll lose the game one hundred percent.

“It’s about taking away the positives from those games and trying to replicate that on the weekend.”