Like the old television advertising for the National Lottery, the Scottish Cup can reach down with a golden outstretched finger bestowing greatness on someone. In the final minute of an incredibly tense Old Firm final which was threatening to get away from Celtic, the fates decreed that a player who was mildly disparaged when he joined four months ago would be granted immortality as far as one half of Glasgow was concerned.
Adam Idah was the guy dismissed by some as a poster boy of Celtic’s limited ambition. Why do a loan deal for a striker struggling to start or score for Norwich City? Remarkably, and to the 23-year-old Irishman’s great credit, he has fitted them like a glove. Strong, clinical, with the temperament to handle the pressure of deputising for Kyogo Furuhashi, there will be a clamour now to sign him permanently. They should.
His ninth Celtic goal will live with him forever. Scott Wright and Nico Raskin both let Celtic start an attack and when Paulo Bernardo unleased a swerving shot, Jack Butland of all people, Rangers’ player of the year, spilled it. Idah was on to the loose ball immediately, burying the finish and burying Rangers.
Celtic have a league and cup double and Brendan Rodgers’ command of the fixture continues, now just one defeat in 18 of them. Rangers made a real go of this one and their surging second half looked likely to bring its reward until another repeat of the climax they have endured so often. That’s seven Celtic wins in the last eight Old Firm games at Hampden. It was all too nervous and hard-fought to be a classic. There were turnovers, sliding tackles, misplaced passes, players being crowed and forced into mistakes, giving away possession only for a team-mate to soon win it back, but it ended with an unforgettable conclusion. Idah could not get the smile off his face.
Hampden was at full-throttle for the first Old Firm Scottish Cup final in 22 years. It was the fifth and last derby of the season and the first where both sets of fans were allowed in with the chance to goad each other. Some of that was predictably dreary — chanting about “fenians” from the Rangers half and “Orange bastards” from the Celtic end — but otherwise the spectacle was vivid. Flame-throwers roared into life as the teams emerged. Rangers had a tifo and fans shot fireworks into the air. Blue smoke bombs went off here, green ones there: 150 years after the Scottish Cup was first held, its final was as loud and raucous as it gets.
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An Old Firm final was one of the few occasions left on Callum McGregor’s bucket list. Otherwise he has seen and done it all. Well, apart from losing a final. The player whose name was on everyone’s lips going into the game brought an incredible, flawless record of 12 wins from 12 cup finals. Make that 13. Celtic’s conductor was the man Rangers had to stop. Boy, they have paid a high price for failing to contain him in the past. Here he was at it again, not running the show this time but finding pockets of space, playing between the lines.
In the first half Celtic trusted themselves. They had confidence play it around at the back, Cameron Carter-Vickers to Liam Scales to McGregor to O’Riley. That allowed them to break Rangers’ press and flow the ball forward, even if there was little end result from that in a competitive but uneventful first half.
Philippe Clement was under scrutiny. Did the Rangers manager have the nous to limit the advantages Celtic had brought to bear in their three wins and a draw in the league derbies this season? It helped him that Ridvan Yilmaz and Leon Balogun could both start having been doubtful because of injuries. John Lundstram — free from the suspension he incurred from a red-card against Celtic last tie — was not recalled. A midfield three of Raskin, Mohamed Diomande and Dujon Sterling looked more equipped to match, or at least get closer, to Celtic’s clinical trio of McGregor, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley.
At times the press was disjointed, Cyriel Dessers and Todd Cantwell trying to close Celtic down only for the midfielders to hold their positions behind them, allowing McGregor or Riley to turn and build. Cantwell would hold his arms out, pleading for support. Celtic’s passing was slicker but there were few openings. Daizen Maeda has been a serial tormenter of James Tavernier and Rangers captain tried to make an early statement with a crunching tackle to end a run. Ben Davies was similarly strong in challenging O’Riley when Celtic threatened, then a Hatate shot was blocked. Alistair Johnston and Furuhashi had shots saved but Butland was untested by either of them.
Rangers were competitive but lacked punch and penetration. Cantwell, Fabio Silva and Tavernier got into promising areas in the final third but their deliveries were wasteful. Silva got away from Johnston but his weak shot was easily held by Joe Hart. Celtic’s goalkeeper was playing the final match of a distinguished career. A Dessers shot was blocked by Carter-Vickers and Rangers should have had a free kick near the box when Scales shoved down Sterling.
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That call went against them and so did the final’s major flashpoint after an hour. Abdallah Sima had come on for Dessers at half-time and he thought he had a goal when he touched Tavernier’s corner into the net, seemingly a cup final opener with his knee virtually on the goalline. The VAR, John Beaton, alerted referee Nick Walsh to a shove by Raskin on Hart. Walsh agreed and disallowed it. Hart did deal with a couple of Rangers’ corners but the deliveries tested them. An early Rangers corner had flashed through the Celtic six-yard box too. There was encouragement there for them. Another corner flew through the Celtic goalmouth.
Celtic swapped their centre forward too, introducing Idah’s physicality when the game had passed by Furuhashi, but the game threatened to get away from them. It became messy and undisciplined, broken up by substitutions, fouls and bookings. Rangers carried far more threat in the second half, breaking up Celtic possession at the edge of their own box and sweeping forward. Their fans sensed a goal.
But there was fear, too. Fear for both sets of fans and both teams when the other side swept forward. Celtic were disjointed, lacking shape and structure, but they did what they always do. They found a way.
