CELTIC eventually claimed a 3-1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle to claim the Scottish Cup and cap off a sensational season overall, as Ange Postecoglou joined the club’s managerial greats by tucking a Treble into their trophy cabinet.
A goal from Kyogo Furuhashi – who else? – eventually broke down the stuffy resistance put up by Caley Thistle in the first half, before substitute Liel Abada seemed to have killed the contest with a second 25 minutes from time.
Inverness’s own supersub Daniel McKay though popped up to bury a diving header past Joe Hart on 84 minutes to set up a grandstand finale, but Jota killed their hopes with a clincher as the clock ticked into stoppage time.
Here are the talking points from a glorious day for the Celtic fans at Hampden in the sun…
ANGE POSTECOGLOU HAS SECURED HIS CELTIC LEGACY
It may not be a day for poring over the speculation of the last week in great detail, and it is only right that the focus instead is on Celtic’s achievement of racking up yet another Treble. So routine have this club made the feat over recent years that it has almost been forgotten just how difficult it is to accomplish, with Postecoglou now becoming just the fifth manager in the club’s entire history to do it.
The others are Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon. That Postecoglou now deserves to be held in the same regard as the last three names on that list at least seems beyond doubt, and whatever happens in the next few days and weeks, there can be no debating just how impressive his reign has been to this point. Particularly when you consider where Celtic were when he arrived, unheralded, from Japan.
For now, Postecoglou, his players and his adoring public will simply bask in the glow of this memorable season before contemplating what may come next.
WITH KYOGO, ONE TOUCH IS ALL IT TAKES
The masses of Celtic fans around Hampden were starting to get just a little impatient with their side’s inability to break Inverness down as we neared half-time, with Billy Dodds’ men holding firm and limiting the heavy favourites to a handful of underwhelming efforts from range that were dragged wide.
Of course, Celtic had all the ball, but they were doing very little with it. Their passing was safe and pedestrian, and the well-drilled Highlanders were looking comfortable in their shape.
In fact, it appeared the Celtic players were doing their utmost in those early stages to put off any watching suitors peering at manager Postecoglou from North London. There can be no place for a false sense of security when Kyogo is around though.
If his thunderous strike that eventually opened the scoring just seven minutes before the interval wasn’t quite the striker’s first touch, it must have been close to it. But what a touch it was. Matt O’Riley got onto Alistair Johnston’s pass down the right-hand side of the Caley defence, and his clever cut back was weighted perfectly for the razor-sharp Kyogo to steam onto it. In a flash, the ball was past Mark Ridgers and in the back of the net.
He hadn’t trained all week following the injury he picked up against Aberdeen on the final day of the Premiership season, and was removed before the hour for Hyeon-gyu Oh, but Kyogo had made his mark nonetheless. As he has done throughout another outstanding season for the country’s top scorer.
MAY O’RILEY ASSIST YOU?
It wasn’t so long ago that there was something of a narrative going around that O’Riley was having a rather underwhelming season, particularly off the back of his stunning introduction to Scottish football following his move from MK Dons the preceding January.
Most of that seems to have stemmed from the fact that he had failed to get on the scoresheet until Celtic put five past St Mirren in the fifth round of this competition in mid-February, a quirk that could partly be explained by the impressive period he spent lying deep as an understudy for injured captain McGregor.
What has rather been overlooked though is that he has consistently been a threat for Celtic in attack throughout the campaign, ending the Premiership season as the top assist provider with 12 to his name, and grabbing another vital one here as he grasped the thistle – if you will - just when obdurate Inverness were eyeing up the safety of the dressing room.
CALLUM MCGREGOR RACKS UP HIS 20th HONOUR
The Celtic captain is no stranger to clambering up those Hampden steps, and as he did so here to loft the Scottish Cup above his head, he further cemented his place among the club’s greats, and their most decorated players.
On a day when Celtic had so much possession, he was always going to play a central part in proceedings, but he also burst forward to claim an assist for Celtic’s second goal, thrusting down the left to square for Abada to tap home. Though, he and Celtic were forced to wait for it, as a VAR check showed he was onside by a whisker as he latched onto Jota’s pass in behind.
From that point, there seemed little doubt over McGregor winning his 20th honour as a Celtic player - and his fifth from a possible six as captain – but although Caley made them sweat a little, they got there in the end.
INVERNESS CAN HOLD THEIR HEADS HIGH
The last thing that Caley Thistle manager Dodds would want is to be labelled as plucky losers, but there is no doubt whatsoever that he and his men can be proud of their efforts against what looked to be insurmountable odds.
Most of their good work was done in their own half, of course, manfully defending their box against a superior opponent. Indeed, there only regret may be that they rarely showed much composure when they did land on the ball.
When they did put a move together, they found the net, as Wallace Duffy’s delightful delivery was powered home by Mackay’s diving header, but it proved too little, too late.
The challenge now will be to pick up the pieces and produce more consistently in next season's Championship so they are rubbing shoulders with the likes of Celtic on a more regular basis.
