The curious case of the goalscoring hero the last time Hibs found victory at Celtic Park

A bent run to remain onside, a perfectly-executed touch on the turn to kill the ball dead and an expertly dispatched finish into the far corner.

Once the ball struck the ball of the Celtic Park net, 19-year-old Danny Galbraith doubled back and raced behind the goals towards the away end with his arms outstretched in joyous celebration. This was his first goal in senior football. Not only that, but to this day it remains the last time a Hibs player would score the winning goal against Celtic in Glasgow. Surely it remains a special occasion to savour more than 13 years on? Well, not exactly.

“It’s a running joke that I’m the only player in history to score the winning goal at Celtic Park and then get dropped for two months. It’s not a great record,” the now-32-year-old told the Evening News.

“The 27th of January is my dad’s birthday. So it’s a date which will always stay with me. But that was my reward, come on and score the winner and then not kick a ball again until March. I went back the way. I went from on the bench to in the stands.

Danny Galbraith fires in a last-minute winner for Hibs at Celtic Park in January 2010. Picture: SNS

"It could probably be considered the highlight of my unsuccessful career. It was a great moment but probably the point in my career where it was time to kick on and that probably got taken away from me. Timing is everything in football and the momentum from that was completely lost from my perspective.”

Even all these years later there’s still no explanation as to why he didn’t feature again until March. It used to cause him sleepless nights but he’s well past the point of trying to make sense of it all.

“I never really got an explanation. John Hughes was the manager so getting an explanation was easier said than done. The party line through the media was to protect me or to not let me get too carried away, or something like,” Galbraith said.

“I remember going to see him once to find out what I needed to do to get an opportunity. And I remember him saying to me, ‘would you have played this many games in Manchester United’s first team this season?’ Of course I said no. So it was almost like ‘think of yourself lucky then’. As a youngster you walk out thinking he knows what he’s talking about, but you soon realise that it’s got no relevance to anything whatsoever.

Danny Galbraith rushes to celebrate in front of the Hibs fans after netting the winning goal at Celtic Park. Picture: SNS

"Nowadays you can put something on social media or leak something to the press, then you’d get a bit of clamour for why you’re not getting a game. I’m sure back then it was just a few mystified fans on Hibs.net. I read all these things like ‘he turned up to training drunk the day after’. Which, considering I was tee-total until I was 26 years old, was clearly made up.

“I vividly remember that my night consisted of getting the bus back from Glasgow, running myself an ice bath about 11.30 at night, then going to bed and getting up for training the next morning. It certainly wasn’t very exciting so I probably would’ve been better having at night out. It would give me something to feel sorry about.”

At first glance, limited opportunities could be explained away by the strength of the squad. This was the season Anthony Stokes joined the likes of Derek Riordan and Abdessalam Benjelloun in the Hibs attack, while Colin Nish scored consistently as well. The result at Celtic was at a time where they were flying high, close to the summit of the SPL table, but form plummeted after a win against St Mirren the following weekend.

"Absolutely the team did have some good forward players.” he said. “But I didn’t start a game that season. So I’d played about 12 games prior to the win at Celtic Park and then didn’t play again for two months. So my opportunities went back the way from that moment, so how can that happen? The second half of the season the team weren’t doing well. We only won three more games.

Danny Galbraith with manager John Hughes after signing for Hibs, alongside Patrick Cregg and Kevin McBride. Picture: SNS

"Ultimately I was one who wouldn’t kick up a fuss and he probably knew that. My character was to turn up and get on with it, keep my head down and train as hard as I would anyway. Sometimes the more professional you are, the less hassle you are to a manager, then certain managers will bow to players who are more of a problem.”

Galbraith played more regularly the following campaign after Colin Calderwood replaced Hughes when the poor form to conclude the 2009/10 campaign bled into the following season. But by his own admission, he struggled to make an impact on a team that was now fighting near the bottom of the table and was eventually released from the club in January 2013.

After drifting down the leagues he quit the full-time game in the summer of 2017 after an unsuccessful spell at York City. Now with his hometown club Gala Fairydean Rovers in the Lowland League, he no longer considers his weekend involvement part of a career but something more fulfilling.

"For me, my career ended a number of years ago in football,” he said. “So what I do now is play football for the reasons that you did it in the first place – because you love it. After I finished my career I didn’t envision myself going back into playing football anywhere, but to come and play for my local club, where I grew up and my family still there, I have really loved it. It’s been really good for me. All the frustrations of it being a career, it’s now a case of getting out of it which you should, which is enjoyment every Saturday.”

Message from the editor

Thank you for reading this article. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.