| Match Pictures | Matches: 1891 – 1892 | 1887-1900 | League Tables: 1891-92 |
Trivia
- Scottish Cup Final – Replay
- Celtic’s first Scottish Cup title, and first major national honour
- Celtic had previously won the Glasgow Cup, but the Scottish Cup in 1891 was a step above.
- Win was against the then establishment club Queen’s Park.
- Celtic win treble of Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup and Glasgow Charity Cup. The first club to do so.
- First final was voided even though Celtic had won it 1-0.
- In the first final, Celtic won 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal scored by Johnny Campbell on the hour mark and, since the trophy was traditionally presented inside the pavilion, most of the 40,000 spectators left Ibrox assuming that the Bhoys had won the cup. However, Celtic united with Queen’s Park to make a joint protest insisting the match be replayed, a move which was upheld by the SFA. A Scottish Sport correspondent summed up the mood at the time, describing the now null and void match as: “the most remarkable event that has ever happened in the history of the Association game“.
- Queen’s Park had actually taken the lead to half-time, then Celtic hammered their opponents.
- The Scottish Sport set the scene, hailing the Spiders as ‘the premier club in Scotland‘ and describing Celtic as ‘the best combination of Irishmen that has ever been raised in Scotland, knitted together by an unquenchable desire to do honour to the Emerald Isle.‘
Review
A special day, as Celtic lifted the Scottish Cup, then seen as the premier trophy to win in Scottish sport.
Celtic’s victory had been as emphatic as it was significant but this was not reflected in the press of the time, betraying a wider unease at the emergence of this new force. The Scottish Referee, for example, sniffed at:
“... pretty much a Phyrric victory. The Queens had but a skeleton team…“
Nevertheless, that mattered not to Scotland’s Irish community. They rejoiced, bands paraded and many a drink was had as Celtic – and the club’s first major success – were celebrated.
And, just for the record, the Bhoys finished top of the Scottish League for the first time the following season – edging out Rangers by one point!
Scottish Referee Magazine:
“There was much jubilation on the part of the Irish population of Edinburgh and Leith when it became known that Celtic had won the Scottish Cup . . . Edinburgh and Leith people look forward with expectancy to the coming of the Celts on Monday next when they meet with the Athletic…”
Teams
Queens Park
– Baird
– Gillespie
– Gulliland
– J Hamilton
– Lambie
– Robertson
– Scott
– Sellar
– Sillars
– Stewart
– Waddell
Celtic
Cullen;
Reynolds and Doyle;
Maley, Kelly and Gallacher;
McCallum, Brady, Dowds, McMahon, and Campbell.
Scorers McMahon (2), Campbell (2), Sillars (og)
Referee: Mr. G. Sneddon
Att: 20-30,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
The Scotch Challenge Cup.
The Times, Monday, Apr 11, 1892; pg. 7; Issue 33609; col B
Queen’s Park and Celtic replayed the final tie at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, before upwards of 20,000 spectators. Queen’s park, after leading by one goal to none at half-time, were beaten by five goals to one.
Scottish Cup – Final Tie.
The Scotsman – Monday, 11th April 1892, page 5
Queen’s Park v Celtic – After a series of postponements and delays almost without precedent in the history of the competition, the question of the custody of the Scottish Cup for the next year was finally settled on Saturday, when the Celtic capped their brilliant season’s form by defeating the Queen’s Park by the large majority of five goals to one. The Parkhead men have struggled manfully for the honour, which they thus secure for the first time, and there can be no dispute as to their right to secure the custody of the national trophy. Since the occasion of the first match the teams, which it is in the recollection of every one, was ordered to be replayed on account of the encroachment of the spectators, public interest in the contest had in no way diminished, though, as a matter of fact, the attendance on Saturday did not reach the extraordinary limit attained on that occasion.
Though prior to the first match the Queen’s Park were favourites with the general public – partly by reason of the fact that they had time after time shown themselves to be possessed of the knack of rising to the occasion, and had, as a matter of fact, never been defeated in any final tie for the cup in which they had figured – the situation was reversed before the start of Saturday’s game. Several causes contributed to bring about this altered state of matters, but the principal was the weakened state of the Queen’s Park team. Nothing but uncertainty prevailed before the match as to the eleven which would do duty for them, and, as will be seen from the teams annexed, the combination which ultimately took the field for the popular Hampden Park club was of a poorly balanced nature. Still, with the resistance of the wind in the first half, they gave the Celts any amount of trouble, and actually crossed over with a lead of a goal, but in the second period the Irishmen turned the tables, and there was then really only one team in it. The arrangements for the match were again of the most perfect nature, there being a large staff of police both mounted and on foot present, sufficient to cope with a crowd of any dimensions. Needless to say, the fiasco of the previous match was not repeated, the proceedings being of the most orderly nature from the start to finish. The attendance, though short of that of the first match, was greater than that which filled the ground a week ago on the occasion of the Scoto-English International, it being calculated that there would be about 30,000 present. The only drawback from a meteorological point of view was the presence of a pretty strong east wind, which gave an undoubted advantage to the team defending the eastmost goal.
Led by Kelly, the Celts were the first to make their appearance a little before the advertised time of start, and they were shortly followed by the Queen’s with Tom Robertson at their head, both teams coming in for a particularly hearty reception. Robertson was fortunate in the spin of the coin, and naturally elected to play with the wind in his favour during the first half. Dowds kicked off for the Celts and the game at once assumed a lively aspect. A foul against the Celts early gave the Hampden eleven an opportunity, and as Sellar sent the ball nicely into the goal-mouth some excitement prevailed, but the sphere was ultimately headed away. For a time the game was of a somewhat forcible nature, and fouls were rather frequent. Some surprise was expressed at the dashing form shown by the Queen’s Park representatives, notwithstanding the strange composition of the team, and for a time they kept the spectators at the pitch of excitement, as again and again they made a raid on the Celtic citadel. Kelly, however, was showing greatly improved form from his recent appearances and proved no small obstacle to the opposing forwards. Doyle also was in great form, his kicking and tackling at times being magnificent. Several rushes of the Celtic on the other hand, were splendidly negotiated by Donald Sillars who was playing a strong game at back. On one occasion early in the game, however, the Celtic were very near scoring, a beautiful shot, which just went over the bar, being sent in by W. Maley. The first corner kick of the match fell to the Queen’s Park, and was nicely placed by W. Lambie, but the leather was again sent over the bar. Then the Queen’s pressed, and Reynolds in heading out nearly sent the ball through his own goal. A corner, however, only resulted, off which nothing was scored. With the game about twenty minutes old, the Queen’s made a determined raid on the Celtic goal, and their efforts were this time rewarded, Waddell putting through the first goal of the match amid an enthusiastic outburst of cheering from the many Queen’s supporters on the ground. This gave the Queen’s Park the confidence which it was felt by their supporters they required, and for a considerable time they hemmed the Celtic in on their own goal-line, corner after corner being conceded to them. Of these, however, nothing came, thanks to the admirable defence of Cullen, assisted by Doyle and Reynolds. The Celts having at last raised the siege gave the Queen’s defence some trouble, McMahon being especially prominent by his dashing runs, but Sillars continued to maintain a strong defence, and seldom were the Celts really dangerous. Towards the close of the half the Queen’s had again all the best of the play, and considering the frequency of their visits to their opponents territory, they seemed to have rather hard lines in not scoring. Half-time arrived with the Queen’s leading by a goal to nil.
The second half had not been long in progress before it was apparent that the relative positions of the teams would very soon be reversed. The breeze now proved an undoubted advantage to the Celts, and they soon bore down on Baird, but at first without success. For a time the Queen’s continued to show a little of the form of the first half, but this soon died away by reason of the strong attack which the Celts were now making. The Irishmen’s efforts were at length rewarded, as, after some smart play in front of the goal, M’Mahon, with a wonderful overhead shot, put through the first goal for his team. This was received with an extraordinary outburst of enthusiasm from the Parkhead club’s followers, and was really the turning point of the game, as further improvement was noticeable in the play of the Irishmen from this point. Only a short period had elapsed when the second goal was put through for the Celtic from the left wing. An effort was made by the Queen’s to rouse themselves, but though their play was of a dashing nature individually, their opponents felt evidently that they were playing a winning game, and showed the utmost confidence and resource. Doyle was simply unpassable, and repeatedly was cheered for his smart tackling and strong and clean kicking. Hamilton on one occasion, however, made a splendid single-handed effort for the “Blazers”, but his parting shot was wide of the mark. The Celtic left wing forwards were showing splendid combination, M’Mahon playing up in surprising fashion, and through his instrumentality Baird was beaten for the third time.
The Celtic followers were now quite beside themselves with delight, and all the members of the team came in for favourable comment. With the view of, if possible, bringing about a change in the position of affairs, Sellar now took his usual place on the left forward wing, Stewart going back and J. A. Lambie to half-back. The change seemed likely to have some effect as Sellar time after time came away with beautiful dribbles down the wing. He got little support, however, and his efforts, therefore, went for little. Only on one occasion did he seem on the point of scoring, as, having beaten Kelly and Reynolds, he has an open goal before him. Doyle, however, had yet to be reckoned with, and crossing over from the other wing, the trustworthy “Dan” succeeded in nipping the ball from the feet of Sellar and sending it well down the field. From this point to the close the Celts with ease maintained their superiority. From a free kick Kelly scored the fourth goal, the ball striking one of the opposing team in its progress towards the goal mouth. For a few minutes the Celts’ forwards rested on their oars, and the Queen’s asserted themselves a little; but the opposing defence was as safe and steady as ever, and the Hampden eleven failed to augment their score. Just on the call of time M’Mahon succeeded in raising the Celtic total to five goals to one.
There was a scene of much enthusiasm at the close, the members of the winning team being cheered to the echo as they retired to the pavilion. Coming to individual form, it may be said that for the winners the left forward wing played a prominent part in their victory, M’Mahon showing astonishing dash and resources, which marked him out as the best of the forward line. He was well supported by Campbell and McCallum, and Brady also played a magnificent game on the right. The surprise of the match was Kelly who played quite in his old style, in marked contrast to his international performance. Doyle was a tower of strength at the back, his play in all respects being most accurate, and he was ably assisted by Reynolds, while Cullen was very safe in goal. Of the losers, it may be said that Sellar was more effective forwards than at back. There was at times a sad lack of combination in the forward rank, but Hamilton and Waddell showed good individual play. The back division was much inferior to that of the Celts, Sillars being the only one of outstanding merit. Baird did fairly well in goal, and, though he has been seen to more advantage, saved some really dangerous shots in brilliant fashion.
Match report from The (London) Times
Glasgow Herald 11th April 1892
Willie Maley recalls the game and the post-match celebrations:
“The second game was an eye-opener for the Queen’s supporters as our lot walked away with the ‘goods’ winning by 5 to 1. Both sides showed changes, Dowds playing centre for us vice Madden, injured, and Sellars playing back for Queen’s, vice the redoubtable Walter Arnott. Our lot stamped themselves that day as the champions of Scotland without a doubt, and their football was delightful to watch.
What a happy lot we were that night when the Cup was taken up to St. Mary’s Halls by John Glass of happy memory. Poor Glass, he looked as if his chief end in life had been attained, and there was not a happier man in the universe than he that night. In his speech in replying for the club he reminded his bearers of his prophecy when we were beaten by the Third in 1889, and told them he knew then we would do it yet. Cups won nowadays like the Scottish carry with them bonuses of very substantial size; but, I may tell those interested, that the bonus for that cup was a new suit of clothes for each man.
I had then attained one of the greatest honours of a footballer’s career in winning my Scottish Cup badge . . . Our three-leaved-shamrock success of that year [Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup, Charity Cup] had not been touched by any other club since the inception of the competitions, and so we started our record-making career of cup-winning.”
Weekly Mail and Record, 1915
Reaction to Celtic’s 1st Scottish Cup success in Glasgow’s East End – and beyond
From the The Scottish Referee, 11th April 1892, quoted in Rhapsody In Green:
“There was much jubilation on the part of the Irish population of Edinburgh and Leith when it became known that Celtic had won the Scottish Cup . . . Edinburgh and Leith people look forward with expectancy to the coming of the Celts on Monday next when they meet with the Athletic . . .
The half-time result of the great final was received at Cappielow Park [Greenock] with loud cheers, mingled with groans . . .
Coatbridge was en fete on Saturday over the victory of the Celtic. In the second half, when it was intimated that the Celts had scored three goals in ten minutes, you might have heard the cheers at Ibrox. Had the Celtic team been immersed in the whisky that was drunk to their health, the Parkhead lot would have been non est . . .
When the intimation came that ‘our team’ had won in such a handsome manner almost everybody who could muster a cheer and a grin at once put them in evidence. Even the women lent a hand, and helped in no small measure to make the rejoicings hearty. But it was when ‘the boys came marching home again’ from the aristocratic Ibrox that the fun began in earnest . . . As the evening wore on, the whole East End put on an air of alleged gaiety and a colour of deep carnation that would have given an unenlightened stranger the severe knock of astonishment. Bands! you ought to have seen them. They perambulated the whole district until well on in the evening, and with the aid of a liberal use of party music helped to make things hum along merrily. Of course this caused a risk of a ruction with [King] Billy’s men. But what of that? Truly the East End was a perfect turmoil until the very early hours of the Sunday, and many of the crowd won’t be able to get over the rejoicing racket for days to come.”
1892 Scottish Cup triumph … the first of 103 trophies for Celtic
CELTIC’S total of major domestic honours currently stands at an impressive 103 after Brendan Rodgers’ side captured the League Cup this season – and the Hoops are also hoping to add the league and the Scottish Cup to that tally this season.
Today, April 9, marks the 126th anniversary of Celtic’s first major trophy, winning the Scottish Cup in only the fourth year of the club’s existence with a 5-1 replay victory over Queen’s Park.
Back in 1892, the Scottish Cup was the country’s most prestigious competition, far outweighing the fledgling championship in terms of importance and the new club’s already faithful following craved success.
The first Brake Clubs (forerunners of supporters’ clubs) had already been formed and, while the Irish immigrants following Celtic were still considered to be second-class citizens by many of the indigenous Scottish population, there was a growing respect for their team.
The faithfulness of the support wasn’t going unnoticed either. A correspondent for the Scottish Referee, in September 1891, felt compelled to remark: ‘The Celtic are blessed with a following that simply defy the elements, whose enthusiasm for their club is never lukewarm.’
These supporters had already tasted defeat in a Scottish Cup final when, in 1889, their team fell victim to a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Third Lanark.
But, in a season when they had already won both the Glasgow Cup by beating Clyde and the Charity Cup by turning over Rangers, confidence was high within the Celtic squad that there would be no repeat of that heartache.
Nevertheless, standing in Celtic’s way were Queen’s Park, the established and undisputed force in Scottish football at the time.
This was also a time of transition for Celtic who, earlier in the year, had parted company with Brother Walfrid, one of the most influential figures in their early years.
They had also quit the site of their original stadium and moved across Janefield Street to set up home where Celtic Park stands today. However, having disposed of Partick Thistle 8-0 in the quarter-finals and Rangers 5-3 in a thrilling semi, there was widespread optimism that the cup would soon be arriving at their new ground.
The Scottish Sport set the scene, hailing the Spiders as ‘the premier club in Scotland’ and describing Celtic as ‘the best combination of Irishmen that has ever been raised in Scotland, knitted together by an unquenchable desire to do honour to the Emerald Isle.’
The two were originally scheduled to do battle on March 12 and, despite an overnight snowstorm, thousands upon thousands of Celts headed for Ibrox to see their heroes contest the cup.
So great was the interest in fact that mounted police were unable to control the unprecedented number of people desperate to gain entry.
Before long, the Ibrox gates were breached and, with the crowd far exceeding the stadium’s 36,000 capacity, there were pitch invasions before, during and after the match.
Celtic won 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal scored by Johnny Campbell on the hour mark and, since the trophy was traditionally presented inside the pavilion, most of the 40,000 spectators left Ibrox assuming that the Bhoys had won the cup.
However, Celtic united with Queen’s Park to make a joint protest insisting the match be replayed, a move which was upheld by the SFA.
A Scottish Sport correspondent summed up the mood at the time, describing the now null and void match as: “the most remarkable event that has ever happened in the history of the Association game”.
The final was duly rescheduled for April 9 and, as a means of controlling crowd numbers – without harming profits – the admission price was doubled to two shillings (10 pence).
Sure enough a smaller crowd of 23,000 turned up and saw Queen’s Park, with a strong wind at their backs, take a 1-0 lead into the break. However, with James Kelly outstanding at centre-half, Celtic came storming back in the second half, taking a firm grip on proceedings.
The Spiders couldn’t stem the tide and, six minutes after the restart, the equaliser arrived when Sandy McMahon netted a spectacular overhead shot. McMahon, rated as Celtic’s most outstanding player of that era, had earned the title ‘Prince of Dribblers’, and he would go on to become the star as Celtic went about securing the trophy.
Not long after scoring the first, he set up left-wing partner Johnny Campbell to fire home the second and send the crowd into delirium. McMahon would go on to seal the match in Celtic’s favour with a brilliant individual goal that saw him ghost past several defenders before converting.
Two further strikes would be added, one from McMahon to complete his hat-trick and the other a deflected free-kick from James Kelly.
Celtic’s victory had been as emphatic as it was significant but this was not reflected in the press of the time, betraying a wider unease at the emergence of this new force. The Scottish Referee, for example, sniffed at: “… pretty much a Phyrric victory. The Queens had but a skeleton team…”
Nevertheless, that mattered not to Scotland’s Irish community. They rejoiced, bands paraded and many a drink was had as Celtic – and the club’s first major success – were celebrated.
And, just for the record, the Bhoys finished top of the Scottish League for the first time the following season – edging out Rangers by one point!
1892 Scottish Cup-winning Celtic team: Cullen, Reynolds, Doyle, W Maley, Kelly, Gallagher, McCallum, Brady, Dowds, McMahon, Campbell.