Johnston names two principals in Celtic’s decade of domestic dominance

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The Celtic Star

·19 December 2024

Johnston names two principals in Celtic’s decade of domestic dominance

Alistair Johnston name-checked two of his long-standing Hoops teammates as one of the main factors behind Celtic’s decade of domestic dominance…

Alistair Johnston in action during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

The Canadian lasted 70 minutes in Sunday’s Premier Sports Scottish League Cup final against theRangers. Celtic went onto win the game in dramatic fashion courtesy of penalty-kicks after an action-packed 120 minutes of football.

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Celtic won all three domestic trophies in 2024

Brendan Rodgers’ side picked up their third domestic trophy on the trot and landed the club’s 119th trophy in 137-years. It was also Celtic’s fifth win from six versus Philippe Clement’s men who seem to have a mental block against the three-in-a-row Scottish champions.

Alistair Johnston in action during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

However, despite leading by 11 points in the Scottish Premiership, Johnston reckons there is still a huge amount of football to be played before there is talk about titles being won.

Albeit the Hoops head to Ibrox on 2 January 2025 knowing that a victory would secure a monumental step in reclaiming the league trophy once again, there will be no complacency setting in insists the 26 year-old right-back.

Alistair Johnston eyes Celtic Treble

As reported by Daily Record, Johnston said: “Domestically there’s three domestic trophies available and you want to win all three of them. That’s always our aim at the beginning of every season and winning this one definitely helps cement the start that we’ve had to the season.”

“It’s been very strong domestically and now it gives us everything to play for. We’ve had a great start in the league and now we can continue to kick on from that, and hopefully it takes a bit of pressure off knowing we’ve already got that first trophy in the bag and we can play a bit more free.”

It’s always nice

“It’s interesting having this trophy before the New Year even hits. It’s always nice to get this one in the bag so you can bank that one for the end of the season and have the confidence to know we’ve already got one, now can we go get another, and another potentially.”

Alistair Johnston in action during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

Alistair Johnston has yet to experience a derby day defeat since arriving in Glasgow coming up for two years ago. The Canadian wasn’t available in theRangers meaningless dead rubber 3-0 win over Celtic at the end of Ange Postecoglou’s side’s imperious 2022/2023 season. But, Johnston has talked up his rivals credentials and their performance levels in Sunday’s classic Premier Sports Scottish League Cup final encounter.

The league is still early

Johnston explained: “They’re a good team. The league is still early. We’re in December and there’s a long way to go. I think last year was a perfect example of that. We had a pretty solid lead then we threw it away and managed to claw it back at the very end. There’s going to be twists and turns. We can only really focus on ourselves.”

Alistair Johnston in action during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

“At the end of the day, if you just consistently pick up three points, you’re going to leave yourself in a pretty good position going into matches against [theRangers]. Normally they end up being title deciders, but if you can give yourself as big a buffer as possible going into those matches it helps take some pressure off and leaves yourself in a good position no matter what the result is in those matches.

“We’ve shown a great ability to win these kinds of matches”

Callum McGregor with the Premier Sports Cup after Celtic’s victory over theRangers on 15 December 2024 at Hampden Park. Photo Kenny Ramsay

“But, again, we’ve shown a great ability to win these kinds of matches, and I think that’s something that’s deep rooted in this team and comes from the leaders we have in James Forrest and Callum McGregor and all those kinds of guys. We were expecting Rangers to kick on as well, and over the past couple of weeks they have done, but we know if we play our best football, it’s really all about us at the end of the day.”

James Forrest in action during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

Suffering a knock in Celtic’s Champions League group phase outing against Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia’s capital last week, Johnston is a fitness doubt heading into Sunday’s important Scottish Premiership fixture versus Dundee United at Tannadice.

Conor Spence