If this is to be Martin O’Neill’s final game as Celtic manager, his last in football even, then he has bowed out in some style.
It would have ben a huge shock if the newly-crowned William Hill Premiership champions had failed to prevail against Championship opponents who lost to Partick Thistle in the play-off semi-final last week.
Still, O’Neill, who took over a club in total disarray not once but twice this season, duly oversaw a comfortable 3-1 triumph over Dunfermline at Hampden this afternoon to complete a domestic double that seemed an impossibility at times during the past nine months.
Daizen Maeda broke the deadlock in the first half when he lobbed Aston Oxborough and Arne Engels doubled his side’s lead before half-time. Kelechi Iheancho came on in the second half and made sure of the silverware with a third. Josh Cooper got a late consolation goal.
Here are five talking points from events in Mount Florida.
Forrest fire
O’Neill made one change to the side which took to the field in the title decider against Hearts last Saturday – Sebastian Tounekti dropped to the bench and his place on the right flank was taken by evergreen James Forrest.
It was the first time the 34-year-old had started a game in a month. But the most decorated player in Scottish football history, an individual who has won no fewer than 27 major honours in his career, was never going to be fazed by the occasion. Sure enough, he quickly showed that form is temporary and class is permanent.
He skinned Dunfermline left-back Robbie Fraser and whipped a great cross into the six yard box in the second minute and then tested Oxborough with a powerful long-range effort shortly after that. He received a warm ovation from the Celtic supporters when he made way for Iheanacho.
Scales to the rescue
Dunfermline should have broken the deadlock in the ninth minute when Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston failed to deal with a long punt up the park from Oxborough.
He allowed the tenacious Calumn Morrison to get a foot to the ball and prod beyond the advancing Viljami Sinisalo. Liam Scales did superbly to get back and clear the shot to safety just before it crossed the goal line.
When a lower league side take on and top flight team in a game like this they know two things – they are going to have to withstand prolonged periods of pressure and they are going to have to be clinical whenever they are presented with a scoring opportunity.
You suspected it was not going to be their day, that there was going to be no cup upset, when Scales denied them the opener.
Maeda again
Johnston atoned for his earlier lapse in concentration when he set up Maeda for the first goal with long pass upfield from deep inside his own half. Centre-half John Tod should have dealt with it and failed to and the striker got in behind him, kept his composure and coolly lobbed Oxborough.
It was the Japanese forward’s ninth goal in seven games. Would Celtic have picked up two pieces of silverware this month without him? It is highly debatable. He has found form at just the right time and made the difference. No wonder his manager calls him Larssonesque.
O’Neill confessed this week that he would not stand in the way of the Japanese internationalist if he wants to leave, as he did last summer when German club Wolfsburg made a bid for him, in the coming weeks. The man who cost them just £1.5m four years ago will be tough to replace is he does depart.
If John Tod was at fault for the first goal of the afternoon then Oxborough was to blame for the second. Yes, the attempt that Engels, the Belgian midfielder who was named Man of the Match, rifled in from full 30 yards out was ferocious. But the keeper was caught flat footed and made no attempt to get to it. He should have done far better.
Pars' spirit
Desperate times call for desperate measures and Neil Lennon did not mess about - he made a triple substitution at the start of the second half and put on Chris Kane, Zak Rudden and Shea Kearney for Morrison, John Tod and Tashan Oakley-Boothe.
Throwing on two strikers and a wing-back was a declaration of intent. Dunfermline gave their fans, around 15,000 of whom had made the journey through to the big smoke, reason to cheer as they pushed hard to get back into the game. Alfons Amade, who took over from Nurudeen Abdulai, went close. But the gulf in quality remained apparent.
Iheanacho killed off their hopes of staging a late fightback when he jinked around Oxborough and rifled home from a few yards out. Cooper pulled one back with less than 10 minutes remaining and he and his team mates fought valiantly to the death. But it was not to be.
Hearts digs
The fallout to the controversial Premiership match against Hearts last weekend has rumbled on and on and the Celtic fans made their feelings clear once the final got underway.
They quickly launched in to chants of “Cheer up Derek McInnes” and “Hearts are falling apart”. But they were more interested in lauding their own manager. And rightly so. The job that O’Neill has done has been, as he is wont to say, absolutely extraordinary.
He will hold talks with major shareholder Dermot Desmond in the coming days. If the 74-year-old does decide to come back for another season then supporters who held up, despite their heroes completing another double, anti-board banners in the final minutes will wholeheartedly approve.
