‘It’s been absolute agony’ - Celtic’s Kieran Tierney on pain of double hernia

Kieran Tierney has admitted he is uncertain whether he will be able to complete a full 90 minutes at Hampden on Saturday as he bids to sign off his season with another winners’ medal before undergoing surgery for a double hernia next week.

Celtic's Kieran Tierney with the Scottish Cup. Picture:

The Celtic left-back has described his injury woes in recent weeks as “absolute agony” and has confirmed he will miss Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Belgium next month.

Tierney has trained with the rest of the Celtic squad over the last two days and hopes to be able to line up against Hearts in the Scottish Cup final as the champions look to wrap up a third consecutive domestic treble.

“The plan is to play 90 minutes and I’m hoping I can get through it,” said the 21-year-old, who last completed a full match for Celtic in the semi-final against Aberdeen last month.

“But I won’t know until I’m in the game, and I’ve played however long, whether that will be possible. But the plan is to play. I’ve trained the last few days, so hopefully I should be fine.

“How do I feel? I feel like I have a double hernia! It’s been absolute agony. But I know what I’ve got now, I know there’s not much I can do until I get my op.

“It’s just about guiding through it until then. I’m booked in for surgery a few days after the final. It will be good to get it resolved.”

Tierney’s target will be a return in time for Celtic’s opening Champions League qualifier next season on 9 or 10 July, although the timetable for recovery is variable.

“Everybody’s different in terms of coming back from this kind of operation,” he added.

“But the good thing is it shouldn’t be too long. So maybe, the surgeon’s said, it’s three or four weeks and you’re fully training and ready for games. Some people are quicker, some are long. I’d say maybe between three and six weeks.

“I’m disappointed to be missing the Scotland games next month, as you want to impress the new manager. Steve Clarke knows about me but I’ll still be gutted to miss these games.

“You want to put your stamp on his mind now that he’s 
starting out with Scotland. What he did for Kilmarnock was incredible and all of the positivity surrounding him can only be good for the national team.”