Scottish football living in extraordinary times as Celtic plumb new depths amid St Mirren's triumph for ages

Lest we forget that Aberdeen are holders of the Scottish Cup, victors over a Celtic side that are making a habit of losing showpiece occasions. What now for Wilfried Nancy? Fascinating though that issue is, the prospects of a troubled and lonely-looking Celtic manager can’t be allowed to deflect from what Robinson and his team achieved here.

This was a win for the ages. It was the first time in 100 seasons that St Mirren have beaten one of the Old Firm in a final. That was against Celtic, too. Albeit the venue for the Scottish Cup final in 1926 wasn’t known as Barclays Hampden, as strictly speaking it is now.

For those appalled by such a corporate hijacking of the national stadium, the underdogs from Paisley did everything they could to inject some romance into the first big occasion held here since the rebranding.

The 3-1 scoreline reflected the balance of play and a fourth goal would not have done St Mirren a disservice. They almost got it too, Kasper Schmeichel flinging himself to his left to stop substitute Evan Mooney’s late effort flying in.

A goal from Marcus Fraser, who steered in a header less than two minutes in, and a second-half double from Jonah Ayunga secured the trophy. Anyone expecting a Celtic rally after Reo Hatate’s equaliser after 22 minutes could forget it.

They were actually worse in the second half. Or should that be St Mirren were even better? A bit of both probably. Yet when the third goal went in, nervelessly converted by Ayunga following a lung-busting run from Declan John after Miguel Freckleton’s intelligent ball into space from the back, there were still 14 minutes left, plus another six minutes of time added on. Plenty of Celtic teams in the past would have responded to the challenge. There was little fight discernible here other than a low drive from substitute Colby Donovan that was tipped wide by Shamal George.

Gogic’s Messi-esque moment

The Celtic supporters, when they weren’t calling for the board to be sacked, tried their best to rouse their team. “And if you know your history,” they chorused after man-of-the-match Ayunga had put St Mirren back in front midway through the second half with a header sourced from Alex Gogic’s Messi-like flick towards the back post. St Mirren played the team not the club, as they knew they had to do. It came down to stripes against hoops and anyone watching this game without any knowledge of Scottish football would probably have picked the team playing in black and white if asked to pick who had 120 trophies to their name and who had just four.

Well, make that five now. St Mirren join the Dundee clubs on this number, with two of them having been won in the last 13 years. Their 2013 League Cup triumph over Hearts was epic, but this? The only disappointment might have been the on-pitch trophy presentation rather than the more traditional Hampden steps routine. Not that Fraser was worrying.

The stand-in skipper gestured for Mark O’Hara, named amongst the substitutes but whose fitness issues meant he did not come on, to join him on the podium. Together they thrust the trophy towards the heavens as the Celtic players looked on, the second time in just six months they have left Hampden clutching losers’ medals.

Things started unravelling for them from almost the very beginning. There was barely enough time for it to sink in that Celtic were persisting with three at the back before they were trailing, again.

It felt like the ball took an age to go in. Enough time for Nancy’s life to flash before his eyes. This wasn’t happening, surely? After three games under him, Celtic are still waiting to score the opening goal. They aren’t looking too clever at set-pieces either. This was the third goal conceded from a corner since Nancy’s arrival.

Fraser peeled away from Hatate far too easily and managed to meet Keanu Baccus’ centre. Where would the ball end up? It looked to be heading for the post but whether it would bounce our or bounce in was the big question.

Such has been Nancy’s fortune since coming in, perhaps no one should have been surprised the ball bounced in. Just 93 seconds had elapsed. Not quite the quickest goal ever scored in a cup final at Hampden but among the quickest goals Celtic have conceded, and surely the quickest they have ever gone behind in a cup final.

Nancy was an energetic presence on the sidelines. When he wasn’t throwing his hands up in despair as Schmeichel booted a kick all the way up the park rather than passing it short he was wildly applauding as Liam Scales played a simple pass straight out of play with Kieran Tierney well placed on the left flank. Trim and long limbed, Nancy looked to be moving better than some of his own players.

Anthony Ralston was brought in, one of two changes from the Celtic side that lost 3-0 to AS Roma. Kelechi Iheanacho joined Ralston in the team though it was a brief and possibly premature return to the starting XI. He came close to equalising with a header that George did well to tip wide and then pulled up with what looked like a hamstring strain shortly afterwards, to be replaced by Johnny Kenny.

It needed to be Kenny Dalglish the way things are at Celtic now. Not that St Mirren are studded with superstars. Match winner Ayunga has played for over a dozen clubs in Britain in a peripatetic career while forward partner Dan Nlundulu only started because Mikael Mandron had a bout of sickness on the eve of the game. They and others took the chance to etch themselves into Paisley folkore.