TOMMY MCINTYRE, the Celtic Under-17 manager, hopes his players will develop a winning mentality after the Parkhead side retained their Glasgow Cup title with a 2-0 win over Rangers at Hampden last night.
Second half goals from Josh Kerr and Mark Hill were enough to give the Hoops a deserved win at the National Stadium in a game that was played behind closed doors after crowd disturbances at the previous two finals at Firhill and Celtic Park. Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, and his Rangers counterpart Stuart McCall were both in attendance alongside members of their coaching staff and it was the Hoops boss who had reason to celebrate as his youngsters lifted the silverware for the second consecutive season.
"There's no shame in winning, especially at a club like Celtic," McIntyre said. "The most important thing for us is developing young players and getting them into the 20s. Hopefully they can see that if they're doing well they'll progress.
"It's a great tournament. The players and clubs enjoy it. It's great for the young players to play at the national stadium and hopefully one day they'll be back with the first team."
It was a polished performance from the Parkhead kids but their pressure didn't pay off until late on as the impressive Calvin Miller and Regan Hendrie came closest to scoring in the first half. It took two mistakes from Robby McCrorie to get Celtic over the line as Rangers' resistance was broken. First, the keeper failed to gather a Hendry corner as Kerr converted from close range before a Hill free-kick squirmed through his grasp just seconds later.
"We said to them before the game that, win or lose, you need to learn from playing in the National Stadium in a cup final against Celtic," Billy Kirkwood, the Rangers Under-17 manager said. "I think you learn more from the mistakes and us as coaches learn more about them as individuals and players."
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