O'Neill hails 'one final effort'
Outgoing Celtic manager Martin O’Neill admitted his relief after clinching the Tennent’s Scottish Cup in his final game in charge.
The Hoops boss will now step down to be replaced by Gordon Strachan but the team asked O’Neill to lift the trophy at the end of the final, which was won by Alan Thompson’s deflected free-kick.
But Celtic toiled to victory, spurning a number of chances as they did in the late Bank of Scotland Premier League defeat by Motherwell last week which cost them the title.
O’Neill told BBC Scotland: “It was a brilliant effort by the players and we deserved to win it.
“But, like last week, we couldn’t put the game away. The players have been terrific bunch for a long. long time.
“It was one final effort. We missed some great chances to wrap the game up.
“As we found to our cost last week, one-nil is never enough and Dundee United hit the bar towards the end but that would’ve been harsh on us at the end.
“The fans were also fantastic.”
