Following last night’s 1-1 draw at home to FC Nordsjælland in the Conference League, Hearts’ Oisin McEntee insisted that Hearts can make an early statement in the title race when they travel to Celtic Park on Sunday.
McEntee returned to the starting XI for the first time in over a month, and his returned to the midfield for the first time since July following a period at centre-back.
The Irishman opened the scoring for Hearts in the 33rd minute before being replaced moments after Nordsjælland’s equaliser.
Much of the post-match reaction was that Hearts squandered chances to seal the game, but a draw was probably the fair result. For Hearts, focus now shifts to Sunday’s visit to Celtic Park, where many of the visiting squad will have last season’s dramatic finale at Celtic Park in mind. McEntee was not involved in the match where Hearts let the league slip in the closing minutes, despite leading the league for 250 days. When recalling his experiences from May, he said: “It was a tough one, a really, really bitter taste and one of the toughest moments of my career. But I think that a lot of those boys are new boys. They have their own careers, their own goals and stuff. I don’t think they’ll be too fussed about it, they’ll just want to go there and win the game.
McEntee also echoed belief in the Hearts squad, insisting that they’re in a title race once more, and that they’re capable of going one better this year, he said: “It’s so early in the season, you want to pick up as many points as you can and I think it would be a great place to do it. So I think all the boys are confident going into it.
“We’ve brought in so much talent. Like, some of the boys coming in, you see Josh McPake, Calvin Miller, Malachi (Fagan-Walcott). Huge, huge players, so I don’t see why not.”
He was also asked about how the Hearts squad will recover between here and Sunday, both physically and emotionally. He also insisted that Celtic will have similar preparations following their 4-1 loss to Benfica last night, he said: “I think the mood in the camp is as I said positive. I think it’s just about recovering. We’ll be back in tomorrow, get what we need to get- massages, in the ice baths and stuff like that. I feel like Celtic have the exact same to do, so there’ll be no disadvantage there, we just have to recover.
McEntee was also asked to share his experiences and offer insight to how Celtic will be feeling after a heavy loss in Lisbon after Hearts suffered a 6-1 defeat to the same opposition earlier in the season. He joked: “I think we were on the end of a little bit heavier! But yeah, it’s a tough place to go, and it’s probably much similar to tonight where it’s so much running and maybe there’ll be more heat over there. But I think it’ll be quite similar for both teams. We put in a shift, but just the travelling for them, it’s a lot.
Sunday’s match will kick-off at 3pm as Hearts could close the gap on Celtic to two points with a win.
