The Scottish Cup final that heralded a golden era for Celtic | OneFootball

It was 60 years ago today, on April 24, 1965, that Celtic won the Scottish Cup, beating Dunfermline Athletic 3-2 in the final, with Bertie Auld scoring twice and Billy McNeill heading home the winner.

It was the club's first major trophy success in eight years, and the first under Jock Stein, who had taken over as manager the previous month.

It's also a silverware success which sparked a golden era for the club under their legendary manager, winning nine league titles in a row, eight Scottish Cups, six League Cups and, of course, the European Cup triumph in 1967.

And it is the 1965 Scottish Cup final that Celtic legend Bobby Lennox chose as his favourite game (outwith Lisbon, of course!) when the Celtic View spoke to him back in 2006. And from the View archives, here's another chance to read what the Lisbon Lion thought of that game...

WHEN you’ve played nigh on 600 games for Celtic and averaged a goal in more or less every other one of those matches, choosing your favourite game must be a bit of a task.

And when you consider that he has 25 top-class medals in his collection, the challenge set to Bobby Lennox presented him with a bit of a conundrum. Added to that, asking a Lisbon Lion what his favourite game was is surely the ultimate rhetorical question!

That game would surely top the list and Bobby also pondered over the two European Cup semi-finals with Leeds United and the 4-0 Scottish Cup final 1969 win over Rangers.

Indeed, the Buzzbomb said: “People tend to ask, ‘What was your biggest game bar Lisbon?’”

However, there’s something niggling inside Bobby telling him that it’s quite possible that none of those 25 winner's medals would have come his way if it weren’t for the very first – his gong from the 1965 Scottish Cup final 3-2 win over Dunfermline played in front of 108,800, the game that instigated Celtic’s glory years.

It was won only a couple of months after Jock Stein arrived as manager and Bobby explained: “Had we been beaten that day, Big Jock may have thought, ‘This team’s not good enough’ and two or three of the boys may have been moved on, you never know."

That wasn’t the case, though, and that’s why he plumped for that showcase final.

He said: “In my time, the Dunfermline cup final, my very first cup final, was a big game for me. That kick-started the whole thing. The tension was there, I was nervous and we really had to win it.

The lead-up to the game was different as well as the new manager exerted some authority by changing the pre-match relaxation venue.

Bobby recalled: “We went to Largs a few days before the final to prepare which was a bit strange because as everybody knows, we used to always go to Seamill at that time. But we went to this small hotel in Largs and it was a very relaxing and very enjoyable few days.

“I remember saying to Dr Fitzsimmons years later that I was tired late on in that cup final and he told me that was nervous tension. He explained it was because it was my first cup final and the nerves got to you but I think all the boys were the same.

“That’s why people say the more experienced you are the easier it is because nervous tension definitely plays its part.”

There was no sign of nervous tension on the eve of the game as the hotel’s putting green was put to good use with masseur, Jimmy Steele playing tote man as a then non-golfer named Lennox put one over on the club’s king of the greens, fellow striker Stevie Chalmers

Bobby laughed: “One of the big events down there was the putting competition on the front lawn on the Friday and wee Steely had the blackboard out, giving odds on everybody.

“I didn’t play golf at the time but everybody had to enter it and I managed to beat Stevie in the final and he won’t be happy to be reminded of that here – but I still mention it to him from time to time!”

On the game itself Bobby said: “The noise at Hampden in those days was unbelievable. You were only young and you wanted to play in a good game at Hampden.

"You drove up and it was mobbed, you had to walk through the crowd to get into Hampden and even after the game there were still thousands outside.

“The match itself was an exciting game. We had the wind in the first half if I remember rightly and went 2-1 down just before half-time to a good free-kick from them to be fair. But we came back out for the second-half and the boys played well, we got stuck in and we had to win the game.

“It was a hard, exciting game and in the last five minutes everybody was desperate for the final whistle to blow.”

He added: “To finally get my hands on the cup was a great feeling, and winning your first medal was one of the greatest feelings in football.

“There were over 100,000 there at Hampden and we’d come from behind. Big Jock said at half-time, ‘We’re doing fine, there’s a big support here that have come and spent a lot of money to watch you and they work hard all week.'

“It was typical of one of Big Jock’s speeches and having a Scottish Cup winner's medal was the be-all and end-all at the time for young Scots players. What an achievement.”

OTHER HAMPDEN HEROICS ON APRIL 24

1937On this day in 1937 there was a famous 2-1 Scottish Cup final triumph for Celtic as goals from Johnny Crum and Willie Buchan gave the Hoops victory over Aberdeen. And the game itself also created a little piece of football history, with a world record crowd of 146,433 crammed into Hampden for the game. Buchan was one of the stars for Celtic that day. His shot was saved by the Aberdeen keeper, but it fell to Crum who fired home. And it was Buchan who hit the winner following great play by the two Jimmys – Delaney and McGrory. Willie Buchan made 134 appearances for Celtic, scoring 59 goals and was sold far too soon

1954Celtic also beat Aberdeen by the same 2-1 scoreline in the Scottish Cup final on this day in 1954. The game was played just a week after the Hoops clinched the league title for the first time in 16 years. Celtic opened the scoring in the 50th minute when a Neilly Mochan shot came off Alec Young and ended up in the back of the net. However, a minute later the Pittodrie side were level when Paddy Buckley equalised. The Celtic fans in the 130,060 crowd urged the Hoops on and in the 64th minute, Willie Fernie cut the ball back for Sean Fallon and the Irishman made it 2-1.