CIS Cup Final
Sunday March 19th

Dunfermline 0

Celtic 3

1:0 Zurawski 43
2:0 Maloney 76
3:0 Dublin 90 subs

Att: 50,090

MIB Stuart Dougal

Celtic
Boruc Telfer Balde McManus Wallace Nakamura Keane Lennon Maloney Zurawski Petrov

subs
Dublin for Keane 61

First blood to wee ginger haired guy in the grey Celtic top.

This is a strange tournament; the high of winning the final is never that high, but the low of losing it is as deep as a well. What made this win all the sweeter didn't become apparent until the next day when Greg Shields made his remarks to the press. That brought a real shine to the cup. If an opposition player had told Gascoigne or McCoist to, 'Get it up you fat bastard!' and they had responded with 'Rich fat bastard if you don't mind,' the Scottish press would be heartily guffawing along and remarking how witty and pleasant those chaps were. But this is Neil Lennon and he is the essence of pure evil. Hence, his fault and not a case of sour grapes from a former Rangers player.

And of course I'm sure the F word Greg used was fat, certainly not any other F word with a religious or political connotation.

Anyway that didn't win the cup, Shaun Maloney did that. This was his tournament - he either made or scored crucial goals in every round (his goal against Rangers is goal of the season- no it is, just accept it). While Davie Provan still holds the award for best ever Cup Final free kick with his 1985 effort against Dundee United, Maloney chipped in here with a well taken effort to guarantee the win.

The first half had been a bit turgid (The Pars; plan obviously), but thanks to some Benny Hill style defending Zurawski was presented with an open net an duly helped himself. It was a rubbish goal to win a cup with, and the thing with WGS's teams is that they do have a liking for the aesthetic.

Cue wee Shaun (Player of the Year).

Prior to that we had the only dark spot of the afternoon, Roy Keane leaving the pitch with a strained hamstring (the fashionable injury round Celtic Park these days).

The afternoon was rounded off with Dion Dublin showing that all those years of prancing around the practice ground of the Premiership could finally pay off when he scored - at last - in the big boys playground.

Neil Lennon - cup winning captain (and he got a big win bonus Greg, choke on that one).