Martin O’Neill: “There were no discussions about that at all,” he says, when asked if he’d like to take the Celtic job on a full-time basis. “I think perhaps maybe next week I might get a chance to speak to the owner of the football club. If you’re asking me could I step in after a three-day holiday, I wouldn’t have that about me.” When pressed, the coy old rogue refuses to confirm or deny that he would be open to taking the gig.
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Martin O’Neill: “It’s definitely not my final,” says the Celtic interim head coach, in an interview with the BBC. “It’s Celtic Football Club’s final. I think, considering the circumstances of me coming back twice, people might try to make it that but I’ve had a bit-part to play in proceedings. And I mean a bit part. The game has changed a wee bit since I first managed and some of the things we coach, I’ve had top learn them [from my staff] . I’ve been doing a lot of learning in the past three or four months.”
Callum McGregor: “They’re all special,” says the Celtic skipper, when asked where this Cup win ranks among his seven. “Probably off the back of a difficult season, everything the team has had to go through it makes it all the sweeter. Second half wasn’t great but we did a lot of the work in the first half.
“December time nobody would have given you a hope. It just shows you the mentality and the character of the team. It’s a tough season but so rewarding. Martin O’Neill has been fantastic since he came back in. He’s been backed up by amazing staff members. I’m sure he will be involved in some capacity. The team have been fantastic, he drove them on and he can enjoy his summer as well.”
Match report: Celtic 3-1 Dunfermline
Scottish Cup final: This most exhausting of Celtic seasons ended with the Cup being paraded in the Hampden sun and the question now is whether the club’s board trust Martin O’Neill, 74, enough to give him the manager’s job on a full-time basis. Ewan Murray reports from Hampden Park …
Arne Engels: “It was a good shot,” says of his goal, in a chat with the BBC. “I need to do it more. I am happy I could help the team with a goal today. Everybody was doubting us but we always believed in ourselves. Now we can finally celebrate – a double is not too bad, is it?”
The trophy lift: Celtic’s players climb the stairs, with Callum McGregor accepting the trophy before bringing it back down on to the pitch for the official “lift”. With his teammates assembled on the hastily erected stage, he hoists it towards the sky!
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Kelechi Iheanacho: ““It feels really good,” says the Celtic striker when asked how it feels to win his first Scottish Cup in an interview with the BBC. ““It was tough to get here but we won the trophy. It’s been a crazy season. It’s one we can remember for all our lives but we got there in the end so we’re happy.” He adds that he doesn’t know if he’ll be staying with the club, who have an option to sign him for another year.
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Dunfermline: Having received the warm congratulations of their manager Neil Lennon, the vanquished players of Dunfermline make their way up the Hampden Park steps to collect their runners-up medals. Lennon brings up the rear and waves to the Pars fans upon receiving his souvenir.
Full-time: Celtic 3-1 Dunfermline
Celtic win the league and Cup double: It’s been a season of turmoil for Celtic but they still come out as double-winners at the end of it. Daizen Maeda, Arne Engles and Kelechi Iheanacho got the goals that beat their oppoents from a tier below. It was a game of two halves for Dunfermline, who were overwhelmed in the first but gave an extremely good account of themselves in the second. Josh Cooper scored their consolation with his first touch mere seconds afterr coming off the bench.
90+4 min: Engels scoops the ball over the bar as he runs on to a defensive clearance. It’s the last meaningful action of the game, the final whistle is blown and Celtic have won the Scottish Cup!
90+1 min: Maeda plays Iheanacho in behind with a ball forward but the Celtic striker is too slow in taking the ball under control. Kieran Ngwenya performs heroics to get back, outmuscle him and hoof the ball to safety.
89 min: “I’ve always thought that Dunfermline had an unusual club badge. A weirdly Gothic, angular design depicting a tower (which appears to be split in two) set against an ominous stormy sky,” writes Stephen Moonie. “According to Wikipedia, it was designed by a local art teacher in the 1950s, who based the design on one of his own nightmares! If true, this must be pretty unique?”
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88 min: Celtic corner. Arne Engels’ inswinger has a bit too much whip on it and bounces wide of the far post. We’ll have four minutes of added time.
86 min: A penny for the thoughts of Neil Lennon, whose Dunfermline side have been superb in this second half after being completely dominated in the first. They’re almost certainly going to lose this Cup final but at least they’re going down swinging haymakers.
84 min: Dunfermline win themselves a corner, while it appears to be an ankle injury that is troubling Tierney. From the set-piece, Chilokoa-Mullen heads over the bar. Celtic substitution: Marcelo Saracchi on for Tierney, who looks perfectly fine.
82 min: In scenes that no Scotland fan wants to see this close to the World Cup, Tierney receives treatment and then limps to the touchline. He returns to action but is about to be replaced. I’m not sure what’s wrong with him.
GOAL! Celtic 3-1 Dunfermline (Cooper 80)
Dunfermline pull a goal back. Seconds after coming on as a substitute for Andrew Tod, Josh Cooper sweeps home from close range after a shot was blocked his way off … I think, Kieran Tierney. I think that was his first touch!
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76 min: Celtic double-substitutions: Sebastien Tounekti and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replace Nygren and Yang.
GOAL! Celtic 3-0 Dunfermline (Iheanacho 73)
Celtic extend their lead! Following a shout for handball in the Dunfermline box, Iheanacho does a soft-shoe shuffle that sends Pars skipper Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen into the Hampden car-park. Showing remarkabnle close control, Iheanacho then jinks past Robbie Fraser, takes the ball around goalkeeperAston Oxborough and prods into the empty net. That is a superb goal.
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72 min: AListair Johnson pulls a ball back into the Dunfermline penalty area from the byline but it’s cannons off a defender and out of danger.
70 min: There’s a short break in play so Dunfermline striker Chris Kane can receive treatment on a bloodied nose.
69 min: Having weathered the Dunfermline storm for 15 minutes of this second hgalf, Celtic are reasserting themselves. They’ve had a habit of letting games drift away from them for long periods throughout this season but they seem to have got away without being punished on this occasion.
66 min: Kelechi Iheanacho taps home a squared ball from Yang to put the game beyond Dunfermline but the flag goes up. Was Yang offside? Was Iheanacho? I think it was Yang and the VAR officials agree.
64 min: “Dunfermline goalkeeper Aston Oxborough must feel like Iain Pearson’s da on his worst night of wooing long ago,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Caught out of position for the first and just hopelessly out of step with the play for the second.”
62 min: Amade controls a pass just outside the Celtic penalty and sends a dipping shot bouncing just wide of the upright. Sinisalo had it covered but it’s another shot across the Celtic bows.
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61 min: Andy Tod tries to stand the ball up at the Celtic far post, forcing VIljami sinisalo to slap it away. Dunfermline are unrecognisable from the side that played the first half.
59 min: Dunfermline substitution: Alfons Amade on for Abdulai in midfield. Celtic substitution: Kelechi Iheanacho on for James Forrest. One presumes he’ll play as a striker, with Maeda moving out wide.
57 min: Both Dunfermline substitute strikers are bald and both are playing like men possessed. With Liam Scales dawdling on the ball surveying his options Chris Kane clatters into him.
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55 min: Martin O’Neill is looking pensive on the touchline, with Dunfermline giving the Celtic manager plenty to think about. They’ve set up in a 4-3-3 in this ghalf, having played with five across the back in the first.
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53 min: Auston Trusty gets booked for dragging Kane to the ground as the two players tussled while chasing a long ball down the left wing. There was six of one and half-a-dozen of the other in that challenge and the Celtic defender was probably unlucky to get a yellow card.
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51 min: Dunfermline are doing an excellent job of keeping Celtic penned back in their own half. If they could score av goal, this final would become a lot more interesting.
49 min: Neil Lennon has replaced both his strikers and brought on a right wing-back in Shea Kearney. On the BBC coverage, Scott Brown describes the changes as “brave”. It’s working so far, as Dunfermline have posed more threat in the opening four minutes of this half than they did in the entire first.
47 min: It’s a positive start to the second half for Dunfermline, who win their first corner of the match. Nothing comes of it.
Second half: Celtic 2-0 Dunfermline
46 min: Play resumes and Dunferlmline make three changes. Shea Kearney, Zak Rudden and Chris Kane are on for John Tod, Morrison and Oakley-Booth.
An email: “So after all that, Celtic are going to win the double, Askou’s away to Toulouse and St Mirren are probably going to hoof their way past Thistle tomorrow and continue stinking up the Premiership,” writes James Humphries. “Reminds me of the punchline to that old joke about the guy’s first day in hell: ‘Right lads, teabreak’s over - back on your heads’.”
An email: “Are we allowed to call this the Jock Stein Derby?” asks Iain Pearson. “The great man cut his managerial teeth at Dunfermline including some great European nights. My mum was a regular at East End Park and it took her decades to forgive my dad for missing one of the great nights: Fairs Cup 1961-62. They were dating.
“Dunfermline had beaten Everton in the first round, then lost by four goals to Valencia in Spain. It was a dreich night and my mum was about to marry up … which meant my dad was a rugby man. He convinced her to go to the movies at The Palace, instead of a wet and ‘pointless’ football match. The manager at The Palace, projected the scores as the goals came in. By the time The Pars had scored their fourth, my dad was no longer getting his goodnight cuddle. Jock Stein, doing an early massive European night out.”
And they say romance is dead. A story fit to grace any Scottish Cup final minute-by-minute report.
Half-time: Celtic 2-0 Dunfermline
The sides troop off with Celtic enjoying a commanding lead courtesay of an extremely dominant performance. They had to survive an early scare following a mix-up between Alistair Johnson and VIljami Sinisalo before going ahead courtesy of fine strikes from Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels.
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45+1 min: Yang curls a very inviting low cross through the Dunfermline penalty area but James Forrest is unable to get on the end of it. It’s half-time.
45 min: Half-time approaches as the chances of a major upset disappear over the horizon. Celtic are two goals up and in toital charge of this game. Neil Lennon has a big job on his hands to try to rally his players during the break. If they can score the next goal, they’ll have a chance.
42 min: Dunfermline’s Charlie Gilmour has been booked for some indiscretion or other, apologies – I didn’t see what. He was also at fault for the Engels goal, making little or no effort to close down the Belgian as he shaped to shoot. Watching it again, it’s obvious that Oxborough the Dunfermline goalkeeper was also caught completely flat-footed.
40 min: It was an excellent strike from Engels, who ran on to a short pass from Callum McGregor to send his long-range dipper past Oxborough, whose view was impaired by some of his own teammates. Celtic had acres of space to operate in outside the Dunfermline penalty area.
GOAL! Celtic 2-0 Dunfermline (Engels 36)
Celtic double their lead! Arne Engels beats Oxborough with a dipping shot from about 30 yards out. The goalkeeper saw it late but possibly should have done better.
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35 min: Maeda runs on to a quickly-taken free-kick and pokes it goalwards before Oxborough can clear his lines. His effort is too gentle and Ngwenya is able to clear.
33 min: Another ball in behind from Celtic, which forces Aston Oxborough to the very edge of his penalty area to head clear under pressure from Maeda and Yang. The Dunfermline goalkeeper wasn’t taking any chances.
32 min: Yang and Engels combine down the left wing only for the Belgian to run into a stout wall of red resistance in the form of Pars skipper Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen. Good defending.
31 min: Celtic continue to dominate possession albeit without making much use of it.
29 min: Dunfermline defender Kieran Ngwenya dithers on the ball and comes perilously close to being mugged by Maeda. He sorts his feet out just in time to send a back-pass towards his goalkeeper, who boots the ball upfield.
26 min: That goal has knocked the stuffing out of Dunfermline and Celtic are in complete control of this final. Scales plays a long ball towards Yang, whose aimless first-time cross to nobody in particular bounces wide.
24 min: That goal from Maeda was his ninth in seven games for Celtic following a barren spell of 18 matches. With just one year on his contract, the Japanese international is expected to leave the Scottish champions this summer so this is almost certainly his final game for them.
22 min: Yang fires into the side-netting from close range and a tight angle after running on to a neat pass from Arne Engels. The flag goes up – he was offside.
20 min: Alistair Johnson played a dirty long ball from the back and under pressure from Maeda, Dunfermline centre-back John Tod misread the bounce, taking an air-shot as he tried to clear it into the stand. Maeda continued his run, deftly lobbing the advancing Oxborough to send Celtic supporters into raptures.
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GOAL! Celtic 1-0 Dunfermline (Maeda 19)
Celtic lead! Daizen Maeda pounces on a Dunfermline defensive rick and lifts the bouncing ball over the head of advancing Aston Oxborough before wheeling away in celebration.
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17 min: An ambitious Tierney shot from distance hits a Dunfermline defender and goes out for a throw-in.
16 min: Yang Hyun-jun lays the ball off to CIaran Tierney, whose cross has far too much welly on it. It’s not the first one the Celtic left-back has overhit today.
15 min: The game reaches something of an impasse after those early moments of drama involving the Celtic penalty shout and Dunfermlkine’s near miss. Neil Lennon will undoubtedly be the happier of the two managers so far.
11 min: That was so, so close for Dunfermline. Alistair Johnson was shepherding a through ball back to Sinisalo, who was slow coming off his line. Morrison nipped beteween the pair of Celtic players to stretch and poke the ball goalwards but didn’t get enough power on his effort. Scales was alert to the danger and had to stretch every sinew to clear the ball off the line.
9 min: Oh my! Celtic are forced to scramble the ball off their own line after Callum Morrison nips between Alistair Johnson and Viljami Sinisalo to poke it towards the empty net. Liam Scales gets back to hack the ball off the line. Dunfermline were millimetres away from taking the lead.
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7 min: Daizen Maeda jinks in front of John Tod as the duo chase a ball into the Dunfermline penalty area and goes to ground. His appeals for a penalty fall on deaf ears and replays suggest it ‘s a good call.
5 min: Another long ball towards Maeda, who on this occasion lays it off to Benjamin Nygren before darting towards the Dunfermline penalty area. Celtic win the first corner of the game. Arne Engels’ delivery is punched clear by Dunfermline goalkeeper Aston Oxborough. James Forrest’s follow-up shot is saved by Oxborough.
5 min: Tierney sends the ball long towards Daizen Maeda but the Celtic striker’s touch is poor and he’s unable to hold it up.
4 min: Dunfermline win a free-kick near the halfway line for a Trusty foul on their striker Callum Morrison.
2 min: Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo hoofs the ball upfield, running on to a back-pass from Liam Scales. John Tod advances out of the Dunfermline defence with the ball at his feet, before pinging a diagonal towards Matty Todd on the left flank. His cross is cleared by Auston Trusty.
Celtic v Dunfermline is go ...
1 min: Referee Steven McLean blows his whistle and Celtic get the ball rolling. They’re in their customary green and white hoops, while the players of Dunfermline are wearing red shirts, shorts and socks.
Not long now: The teams line up in the Hampden Park tunnel , with managers Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon, suited, booted and ready to lead them out. A measure of the gulf in size and class of these teams? Dunfermline’s entire annual wage bill is considerably less than half of Celtic full-back Kieran Tierney’s reported salary of £2.6m.
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Celtic: In news that may or may not be related to the vacant Celtic head coach position currently occupied by Martin O’Neill in an interim role, Robbie Keane is reported to resigned from his job as manager of the Hungarian Cup winners Ferencvaros yesterday. Hmmm …
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Today’s match officials
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Referee: Steven McLean
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Referee’s assistants: Frank Connor and Scott Anderson
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VAR: Matthew MacDermid
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Assistant VAR: Gary Hilland
Neil Lennon: “It’s not [just] a day out for us,” said the 54-year-old Dunfermline head coach in the build-up to the final. “I’ve seen a lot of comments this week about Martin [O’Neill] picking up the trophy with Callum McGregor and [how] if he’d have been here earlier in the season, he would have been winning a treble.
“I wouldn’t dismiss us. We’re the underdogs, but underdogs bite. “We will come – I wouldn’t say brimming full of confidence – but with an inner belief that we can achieve something here. We’re under no illusions as to how difficult that’s going to be.”
On being in the adjacent technical area to Martin O’Neill: “It’ll still be surreal considering how long I’ve known him, what he’s done for my career and what influence he’s had on me,” he said. “I was very, very lucky that I had 10 years of Martin in his pomp. Everyone talks about what he did at Celtic. What he did at Leicester was incredible.
“Obviously getting promotion, and then he had four top-10 finishes in the Premier League and three League Cup finals. He was on a fraction of a budget compared to the rest. If that was a modern-day manager now, he’d be going to Bayern Munich or somewhere like that.”
Route to the final …
Celtic: Auchinleck Talbot, Dundee, Rangers and St Mirren.
Dunfermline: Queen of the South, Hibernian, Kelty Hearts, Aberdeen and Falkirk.
Celtic have won the Scottish Cup 42 times, but lost last year’s final to Aberdeen. Their most recent success was in 2024 under Brendan Rodgers, when Adam Idah’s late strike propelled them to victory over Rangers.
Dunfermline have two Scottish Cup final wins to their name and lost 1-0 against Celtic in their last appearance 19 years ago. Both Dundfermline’s Cup wins came in the swinging sixties: 1961 and 1968.
Martin O’Neill: “The pleasing thing for me if I truly reflect on it, is there is still a place in this game for older gentlemen,” said O’Neill, 74, in an interview with BBC Scotland. “Despite the tactics that are involved now in the game, I do believe someone with some sort of experience can still play a part in proceedings.
“When I first stepped in way back in October, that was my main concern. Not having managed for some time, there are different ways of playing the game. That was my concern, not about destroying anything I might have done 20-odd years ago but being too old to be in this game. That is certainly a great sense of pride for me now.”
Those teams: Martin O’Neill makes one change to the side that beat Hearts last weekend, with James Forrest coming into midfield in place of Sebastian Tounekti, who starts on the bench. The 34-year-old winger could win the Scottish Cup for the ninth time with Celtic this afternoon.
Aston Boxborough starts in goal for Dunfermline, with Billy Terrell among the substitutes following last weekend’s playoff semi-final defeat at the hands of Partick. Swtiching to five at the back, Neil Lennon also hands starts to Andy Tod (who lines up alongside his brother John) and Tashan Oakley-Boothe. In an extremely Tod(d)-heavy line-up, Matty Todd also starts for the Pars.
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Celtic v Dunfermline line-ups
Celtic: Sinisalo, Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Engels, Nygren, Yang, Maeda, Forrest
Subs: Doohan, McCowan, Iheanacho, Osmand, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Saracchi, Murray, Tounekti, Ralston
Dunfermline: Oxborough, Chilokoa-Mullen, Ngwenya, Gilmour, M. Todd, Aboulai, A. Todd, J. Tod, Oakley-Boothe, Morrison, Fraser
Subs: Terrell, Benedictus, Hamilton, Rudden, Kearney, Amade, Kane, Cooper, Fyfe.
Early team news
Long-term absentees Kasper Schmeichel and Cameron Carter-Vickers remain sidelined for Celtic, who emerged from last weekend’s dramatic title-decider against Hearts with a clean bill of health.
Dunfermline striker Zak Rudden is available for selection after three months out with a shoulder injury he sustained in an earlier round of the Cup, a Fife derby against Kelty Hearts. Goalkeeper Aston Oxborough has returned on loan from Motherwell after being briefly recalled by his parent club. The Pars are without the Irish duo of Graham Carey and Freddie Turley, while striker Olly Thomas and centre-back Ewan Otoo are also unavailable through injury.
Scottish Cup final: Celtic v Dunfermline Athletic
Master and apprentice will stand in adjacent technical areas this afternoon as Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon prepare to lead Celtic and Dunfermline out at Hampden Park for the Scottish Cup final. A Championship side whose hopes of promotion ended in playoff semi-final defeat last week, Dunfermline Athletic arrive at Hampden Park hoping to win their first major trophy since 1968. The Scottish Premiership champions pitch up hoping to win their first silverware since this day last week.
Having spent the best part of 10 years of his career as O’Neill midfield lieutenant at Leicester City and Celtic before taking the reins at Celtic Park himself in 2010, Lennon has been in charge of the Pars for 14 months. He has bristled at descriptions of him as O’Neill’s apprentice, pointing out that at 54, he’s a bit old to fit that particular bill but admitted today’s occasion will “be surreal considering how long I’ve known [Martin], what he’s done for my career and what influence he’s had on me”.
Celtic are overwhelming favourties, Dunfermline will be hoping to upset the odds and kick-off in Glasgow is at 3pm (BST). We’ll have team news and build-up and the meantime.
