Perhaps it was always destined to end this way. In a season which has frazzled the mind and left jaws on the floor at every turn, a straightforward finale was never on the cards.
With Hearts on the brink of making history and becoming champions for the first time in 66 years, Celtic ripped it away from them in the most stunning fashion.
Rarely can the cruel majesty of sport have been so perfectly encapsulated as it was in those seconds when Celtic Park celebrated Daizen Maeda’s goal, then waited for a VAR check, then celebrated all over again.
Hearts, on their knees. Floored. With little more than three minutes of the season left to play, they had been deposed from top spot in the league for the first time since September.
On the touchline, Martin O’Neill leapt into the air in trademark style and with the athleticism of man half his age. At 74 years old, this will have put years on him — and 60,000 others for that matter.
For this has been a season unlike any other, the like of which we may never see again. This was Scottish football’s ‘Aguero’ moment, turbo-charged and on steroids.
Lawrence Shankland has to be escorted from the pitch at the end of the match for his own protection
Yet, what unfolded thereafter was a disgrace. When Callum Osmand raced the length of the pitch to slot the ball into an empty net deep into stoppage-time to make it 3-1, the stands emptied.
Fans poured on to the pitch, these self-entitled morons who seem to think they are a law unto themselves. It was a scene of shame rather than celebration.
Lawrence Shankland, the Hearts captain, had to be surrounded by police after allegedly being assaulted by a Celtic fan.
The view from the press box was clear as day. It was scandalous, really.
Time may well have been up, but Hearts players were not given adequate time to leave the field. They were swallowed up in a sea of green and it was ugly. Very, very ugly.
Several of them were surrounded by Celtic fans goading them. Having spent most of the season fighting with each other as well as the board, Celtic fans now started on opposition players.
Those comments from their interim chairman Brian Wilson after the shame game at Ibrox, where he effectively blamed the police and absolved his supporters of blame, look all the more ridiculous.
When opposition players are being subjected to this kind of behaviour on the pitch, a line has been crossed. As a club, Celtic should be hammered for this.
As they made very clear prior to the recent Old Firm match with Rangers, they are responsible for the policing arrangements inside their own stadium.
When they cannot guarantee the safety of players on the field, they don’t have a leg to stand on. This will rumble for days if not weeks. These things always do.
But the SFA cannot hide from this. After taking aim at all and sundry in a strongly-worded statement about referees on Friday, they can’t turn a blind eye to such a failure of duty to protect the welfare of players.
Celtic supporters invaded the pitch before the final whistle had been blown
Several thousand Celtic supporters had congregated outside the stadium fully two hours before kick-off, awaiting the arrival of the team bus.
It was a world removed from the anger and protests which have coloured so much of this season, with O’Neill and Callum McGregor two of the first men to get off the bus to a raucous ovation.
Hearts had stayed overnight at a hotel just outside Glasgow, where there had been a Celtic charity night in one of the function suites. But reports on social media of some aggro with Hearts staff were overblown.
This was the first time that two direct rivals had faced off on the final day of the season to win the Scottish league title since Rangers and Aberdeen in 1991.
Media from all over the world were crammed into the press box. Forget the FA Cup Final, this was a day when Glasgow felt like the epicentre of world football. This was the only show in town.
Having been banned from the stadium for a period of the season, the Green Brigade held up a huge tifo prior to kick-off which depicted O’Neill and spoke of ‘fairytales’.
Just as he had been when he answered the first SOS call back in October, O’Neill was kitted out in his customary electric green tracksuit.
But there was nothing electric about his team’s performance across the opening 45 minutes. Hearts were by far and away the more composed of the two teams.
They deserved their lead when Shankland ghosted in at the back post, totally unmarked, to head his team 1-0 up.
They equalised just before half-time and would eventually go on to nick it at the end thanks to those two goals from Maeda and Osmand.
But this match will be remembered for the shameful scenes at the end as much as everything that went before it. One things’ for sure, we’ve not heard the last of it. Not by a long shot.
