Lynch and Maloney take centre stage for Celtic Hearts swept aside as Parkhead youngsters star

As the young Celtic players left Tynecastle last night - their club having reached the 100-point mark for the season - justifiably proud of the way they had played, a piece of immaturity by Shaun Maloney brought the game to an amusing and slightly embarrassing end.

The Celtic bench had signalled that Simon Lynch take the penalty awarded to Celtic in the last minute to give him his first hat trick for the club in what was his first game for around 18 months.

However, Maloney, who had scored a hat trick for Celtic earlier this season, was having none of it. Despite the fact even people in the main stand could see and hear John Robertson, the Celtic assistant coach, asking Maloney to give the ball to Lynch to take the penalty, he refused so to do.

Lynch tried to get the ball off him then walked away from the scene as the squabbling for the ball by the youngsters gave everybody a good laugh. After that little spat Maloney was always going to miss the spot-kick, which he did when he struck a post.

''Tommy Boyd should have taken control of the incident as captain, but never did,'' said Martin O'Neill, the Celtic manager, with a wry grin on his face.

''Some of the backroom staff wanted Simon (Lynch) to take it because Shaun had scored a hat trick already but I just kept well out of it.''

Lynch said afterwards he was not going to fall out with Maloney over things. ''He got the ball before me and I couldn't wrestle it off him,'' joked Lynch, who is the son of former Celtic defender Andy. ''We are still good friends.''

The fact that inexperienced youngsters like Lynch and John Kennedy, a defender, both making their first starts of the season, didn't look out of place shows the strength in depth that Celtic now have.

Lynch has finally overcome a serious pelvic injury, while 18-year-old Kennedy, a younger version of Mick McCarthy in style, managed to nullify the more experienced Thomas Flogel and Ricardo Fuller fairly easily.

However, the pair also represent the age-old problem Old Firm youngsters have.

On the one hand they are seduced into signing on with the big club but then have to kick their heels to wait for their opportunity to come.

To be fair to the bunch of them yesterday which also included Jamie Smith and Colin Healy, who has returned from Coventry on loan, they certainly showed their manager their long-term potential. They won't get into the cup final squad but more importantly, they would have done their own confidence the power of good.

Lynch's two goals were both excellent pieces of finishing, as were the two from Shaun Maloney, who at 19, can't be lumped in with the rest of the youngsters O'Neill put out at Tynecastle as he is a veritable veteran with two first team starts this season. From a Hearts point of view, to try as best they could and still come up short against a makeshift Celtic team is embarrassing in the extreme.

OK, they may well have been deflated after they realised their chances of making the UEFA Cup had gone after Livingston's win against Dunfermline, but to be so outplayed in front of their own supporters will do little for next season's advanced ticket sales.

The key area yesterday was in the middle of the park, where the Hearts midfield did not function and Celtic's decision to play Momo Sylla in the hole behind the front two of Lynch and Maloney left them tactically confused to start with.

Indeed, it was Sylla who caused confusion in the Hearts defence for the first Celtic goal, as he managed to head flick the ball onto Lynch who had caught the home sides back four square.

Shrugging off Scott Severin as if he was not there, the Montreal-born player calmly lobbed the ball over Antti Niemi, ran in behind the Hearts keeper, before heading the ball into the empty net.

Hearts did get back into things on the half-hour mark when Fuller outpaced Morten Wieghorst to shoot home, although the Hearts striker looked well offside when he started his run. On another day Celtic's protests would have been stronger but with nothing at stake they let things go.

They probably realised they were in the driving seat, and despite the goal against them continued to dominate. It was no surprise when, four minutes before half-time, Smith ghosted in past three defenders before playing in Lynch for the easiest of tap-ins.

In the second half, Maloney showed that it is not just Lubo Moravcik who can curl free-kicks into the top corner when he did just that with 50 minutes on the clock.

Then 15 minutes later, Maloney scored again with a left-foot shot into a corner of the net.

From then on in it was a simple case of how many Celtic would score, with Maloney's last-minute spat with Lynch over the penalty adding to the entertainment.

Afterwards Craig Levein, the Tynecastle manager, savaged his team, claiming that certain players, who he did not name, but who were out of contract at the end of the season, had ''just chucked it'' when his side went 3-1 down.

''They will be leaving the club, and with performances like that they have speeded their departure.''

The Hearts official conceded that even a ''reserve'' Celtic team had beaten them easily which is a scenario that would worry any SPL manager and sadly shows the gulf between the Old Firm and the other teams in Scottish football.