Celtic's MOAS gathers new members as Michael Nicholson phone call and new Hearts chants catch attention

Referee Steven McLean very deliberately blew his full-time whistle, whereupon O’Neill went to embrace Neil Lennon, his opposite number on this occasion but with whom he shares such a deep connection. The Dunfermline manager clutched O’Neill’s left arm and raised it in the air, as if to say, ‘take some of the credit, for goodness’ sake’.

He was being awarded all the credit in Celtic fans’ eyes. “Martin O’Neill, Martin O’Neill!” chants reverberated around the stadium throughout. There was a testimonial feel to the proceedings. In contrast to the previous weekend at Celtic Park, love was in the air. “One Neil Lennon!” greeted the Dunfermline manager as he ascended the stairs to collect his loser’s medal after the 3-1 defeat.

Nothing unusual in this, after all he’d performed miracles to get the East End Park side this far. But this tribute came from the Celtic supporters despite some recent tricky history. He acknowledged the sentiment at the time with a wave, while recognising the need to be respectful to Dunfermline fans. “They weren’t singing that five years ago,” he later noted, a trace of sourness still evident.

Lennon had sent for the bald brigade of Zak Rudden and Chris Kane at half time. As tireless as they are hairless, the strikers helped drag Dunfermline back into the game. Although Kelechi Iheanacho had already struck a seemingly decisive third after replacing James Forrest, Dunfermline got the goal their second-half efforts deserved. Substitute Josh Cooper converted after Charlie Gilmour’s shot, following good work from Rudden on the right, was deflected into his path with 11 minutes left.

Lennon was sitting on a crate at the edge of his technical area like Oor Wullie – or at least a version of Oor Wullie with a penchant for snuff - by this point. The Dunfermline manager had already been spotted stuffing a heap of the powdered tobacco up his nose after Iheanacho powered through challenges from Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen and Robbie Fraser to put Celtic three up on 72 minutes.

It’s the strangest thing. Although the younger man by 20 years, Lennon’s time as Celtic manager is generally agreed to have come and gone. O’Neill, meanwhile, is surely standing by to be named manager at Parkhead for the third time since October. He will be expected to qualify for and tackle the Champions League, the sharpest of sharp ends club football has to offer.

Dermot Desmond, the club’s largest shareholder, may yet have other ideas. However, it seems unlikely. Desmond is convenor of the MOAS (Martin O’Neill Appreciation Society) having persuaded him to come back twice already, the first time in an emergency situation following Brendan Rodgers' departure.

Songs for Derek McInnes

Somehow, despite transferring the running of team affairs to a Scottish football novice from France via MLS for a few weeks midway through the season and fighting internecine warfare with a group of insurrectionist fans for longer, Celtic have landed another Double.

With Celtic leading 2-0 at half time, following goals from Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels, CEO Michael Nicholson was spotted in deep conversation on his phone at the front of the directors’ box, having presumably excused himself from whatever formal hospitality is available at the interval for VIPs: “Yes Desmond, I’ll let him know – three-year deal until 2029”.

It might be Celtic's 14th league and Scottish Cup combo stretching back to the first one in 1906-07, but this could be the sweetest of the lot. Sealing the achievement at Hampden in the sun provided a pleasing nod to history. More recent history was acknowledged in the form of a chorus of “Cheer up Derek McInnes!” from Celtic fans just minutes into the game and then a rendition of “Hearts are falling apart” for good measure.

It was a fascinating insight into the recent escalation of a bitter new rivalry between a team in the east end of Glasgow and one from the west of Edinburgh. Rangers were barely mentioned except in the ‘route to the final’ feature in the match programme. The Ibrox side side were of course beaten on penalties by Celtic in a controversial quarter-final clash.

Such are the fine margins. Celtic had only made it as far as Ibrox by dint of a goal scored in the seventh minute of added time against Dundee to force extra time in the previous round.

Talking of new rivals, Dunfermline were once very tricky foes for Celtic – the East End Park’s side maiden Scottish Cup victory in 1961 was masterminded by Jock Stein against the side he once played for and would go on to manage with such success. With three meetings since 2000, no teams have played each other so often at this stage of this tournament this millennium.

The Pars opened the scoring in the first of these clashes in 2004 and so nearly did so again here after nine minutes when Alistair Johnston and Viljami Sinisalo suffered a communication breakdown and Callumn Morrison poked the ball towards goal. Liam Scales got back just in time to clear off the line.

It had otherwise proved a challenging start for the Championship side as Celtic continued where they left off seven days earlier against Hearts and poured towards their opponents’ goal. Defender John Tod was proving very conspicuous as he carried out his duties. However, the young man suffered a moment to forget after 18 minutes when he misjudged a long ball from Johnston and allowed Maeda to lob in a well-taken farewell goal.

When Engels, cleverly using defender Kieran Ngwenya as a shield, hit a first-time shot from 20 yards past an unsighted Aston Oxborough nine minutes before half time for 2-0, it looked like being a long, potentially embarrassing afternoon for the underdogs. It was far from that and even included some joy in Cooper’s goal. Chilokoa-Mullen headed just over soon afterwards but nothing was going to ruin O’Neill’s final afternoon as Celtic manager – or is it?

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