CELTIC'S European hopes were shot down by a red, white and blue Baron at Parkhead last night after German centre-forward Karsten Baron's early first half goal left Tommy Burns' plan to play a patient game in tatters.
Although there was little frantic Celtic activity, the early loss meant the green and whites could not afford to sit back.
They did come close on a number of occasions but the early setback meant they were always chasing – never a good sign at home.
Disaster struck only three minutes into the game when Bernd Hollerbach put a pinpoint cross in from the Celtic right and found Karsten Baron unmarked at the back post.
The centre-forward bulleted a powerful header past Marshall from close range, stunning the Celtic fans.
In the 68th minute, Marshall pulled off a great save from Friss-Hansen but disaster was not to be averted for long.
A swift German counter saw Baron release Schupp who finished from just inside the box.
Celtic boss Tommy Burns blamed his side's demise on losing “a stupid chance so early in the game”.
However, he was not totally despondent about his side's chance of overturning this result. “I don't think the tie is beyond us but we have to get a team out which will play to the best of its ability.”
Celtic: Marshall, Boyd, McKinlay, Grant, Di Canio, Van Hooijdonk, Thom, Cadete, O'Neill, Hughes, Wieghorst.
Subs: McNamara, McKay, McLoughlin, Kerr, Anthony.
Hamburg: Golz, Heinzel, Friss-Hausen, Knetsch, Ivanalskus, Baron, Fischer, Schopp, Hollerbach, Sporl, Dowe.
Subs: Hiemann, Schupp, Salinhamidic, Hartmann, Kovecevich.
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AS predicted, there was only one change to the line-ups for Sunday's All-Ireland football final when both sides were announced last night.
Mayo's David Brady, injured for the semi-final clash against Kerry, comes in at midfield for Pat Fallon.
It will come as a disappointment for veteran Fallon, who performed heroics against the Munster champions, but the writing was on the wall as soon as 22- year-old Ballina man Brady's fitness was confirmed on Monday.
Meath, meanwhile, showed no deviation to the side Sean Boylan has persisted with all season and there were no reports from last night's training session in Navan of any late scares.
Meath: Conor Martin; Mark O'Reilly, Darren Fay, Martin O'Connell; Colm Coyle, Enda McManus, Paddy Reynolds; Jimmy McGuinness, John McDermott; Trevor Giles, Tommy Dowd, Graham Geraghty; Evan Kelly, Brendan Reilly, Barry Callaghan
Mayo: J Madden; K Mortimer, K Cahill, D Flannigan; P Holmes, J Mallon, N Connelly (Capt); L McHale, D Brady; J Moran, C McMenamon, M Sheridan; D Nestor, J Casey, R Dempsey
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COLERAINE players and board members last night came to a “sensible” agreement and ended a player strike threat over bonus payments.
Earlier this week the entire Bannsiders squad of 16 players demanded the club pay its agreed structured bonus deals for matches won and drawn in the Irish League First Division last season.
While players trained at the Showgrounds last night with the threat of a strike before Saturday's home game against Bangor in the Sun Life Gold Cup, a team representative was part of a board meeting to discuss the players' demands.
When both parties came out of the meeting, a Coleraine official said only that the players and the club had reached a “sensible” agreement.
The players have made an impressive start to the season, reaching the Ulster Cup Final last week which was followed by an impressive 4-0 win over Newry in the Gold Cup.
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