Celtic defeated second-tier Inverness Caledonian Thistle to win the Scottish Cup and their fifth domestic treble in seven seasons.

Inverness were trying to pull off one of the tournament’s biggest upsets, and they fought tenaciously until the irrepressible Kyogo Furuhashi scored his 34th goal of the season with his first touch as halftime approached.

The expected flood of goals did not materialize, but substitute Liel Abada finished a beautiful play to put Celtic solidly in control and kickstart the Premiership champions’ treble celebrations.

With six minutes remaining, Daniel MacKay stooped to head in Wallace Duffy’s beautiful cross, giving the final life and the small corner of Inverness fans some hope.

However, Celtic persisted, and Abada’s dinked cross was eventually turned home by Jota in stoppage time to seal a 40th Scottish Cup and yet another domestic clean sweep.

Since joining the club in the summer of 2021, manager Ange Postecoglou has won five of the six domestic championships available, but the issue is if the Australian will be around for more amid reports of a move to Tottenham.

Regardless, he has accomplished what he was sent in to do – restore Celtic as the dominant power in Scottish football – and he has done so emphatically, becoming the manager to lead the club over their historic rivals Rangers on to eight trebles won.

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However, Celtic’s performance at a sun-soaked and predominantly green and white Hampden was far from vintage.

Inverness, who finished sixth in the Championship and had not played in nearly a month, were well prepared by manager Billy Dodds and offered a surprisingly slow Celtic little chances.