Celtic retained the Scottish Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Motherwell at Hampden Park, to complete an historic second successive domestic treble.
Brendan Rodgers’ men grabbed control of the final following Callum McGregor’s early opener, with Olivier Ntcham adding a second midway through the first half.
Although both sides had chances to add to the scoresheet, Celtic held on to ensure they become the first team to win back-to-back Scottish clean sweeps.
The result also means Aberdeen will enter the Europa League at the second qualifying stage, while Hibernian are also in Europe having finished fourth in the Premiership.
Celtic were defeated 1-0 by Aberdeen in the final game of their title-winning league campaign, with Craig Gordon replacing Scott Bain in goals in Rodgers’ only change, while Stephen Robinson kept only three players in his line-up – Richard Tait, Tom Aldred and Liam Grimshaw – in from the side that defeated Hamilton Accies 3-0 the previous week.
Motherwell began brightly, with Curtis Main fashioning a half-chance in the opening stages but unable to force the ball goalwards from Ryan Bowman’s cutback.
Celtic’s class began to show however, and they were rewarded with a superb opener after just 11 minutes. Mikael Lustig’s delivery from the right was only partially cleared by Motherwell defender Tom Aldred, however there was little the Well rearguard could do to prevent McGregor’s first time strike nestling in Trevor Carson’s top-right corner.
The Hoops were close to quickly doubling their advantage on the quarter-hour mark when Kieran Tierney’s cutback found Moussa Dembele, but with his back to goal he struck well over from 15 yards.
Celtic did get a second on 25 minutes however, and once again courtesy of a fine strike. Tierney found Dembele, who did well to clear the way for Ntcham to find Carson’s bottom-right corner from 20 yards, with the aid of a slight deflection.
The goal looked to have put the final beyond Motherwell but Main passed up a fine chance to give the Steelmen a lifeline just two minutes later, but he struck harmlessly over after being played in by Bowman.
Celtic finished the first half in control but Motherwell offered early promise after the break, with Main seeing an effort tipped over by Gordon and Allan Campbell shooting straight at the Hoops goalkeeper from the edge of the box.
Celtic were keen to add a third however, and Dembele came close when he struck wide following James Forrest’s cross, while Carson was forced to make a double save from the Frenchman, who saw a header and follow up shot palmed away by the goalkeeper.
Well were inches from setting up a thrilling finish when substitute Gael Bigirimana struck the crossbar with a free kick from the edge of the box on 80 minutes, however the Hoops held on.
