Celtic FC – Scottish Cup Winners for the 27th time – 1985

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The Celtic Star

·30 de mayo de 2025

Celtic FC – Scottish Cup Winners for the 27th time – 1985

CELTIC’S SCOTTISH CUP FINALS – Number 27…

CELTIC 2-1 DUNDEE UNITED – HAMPDEN, 18 MAY 1985 – “Up there” with the best of Celtic’s Scottish Cup finals in terms of drama and comebacks, this final hinged on the decision of Manager Davie Hay with 15 minutes to go, to take off the ineffective Paul McStay and replace him with defender Pierce O’Leary while pushing Roy Aitken up the park with instructions to “take a grip” of the game.

Roy did so, and the game was turned round from 0-1 to 2-1 with goals from Davie Provan’s free kick and Frank McGarvey’s header. Earlier Dundee United had looked totally in command, having scored early in the second half.

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The 27th Scottish Cup was a reward to the supporters after the Rapid Vienna fiasco and some League form which does not even deserve the word “indifferent”. Paul and Willie McStay had now equalled the feat of their great uncles Willie and Jimmy who had won the Scottish Cup for Celtic in the 1920s.

David Potter

The Celtic team: Bonner, W McStay, McGrain, Aitken, McAdam, MacLeod, Provan, Johnston, Burns (McClair), P McStay (O’Leary), McGarvey. Scorers: Provan (76), McGarvey (84)

Dundee United: McAlpine, Malpas, Beedie (Holt), Gough, Hegarty, Narey, Bannon, Milne, Kirkwood, Sturrock, Dodds Sub: Coyne. Scorer: Beedie (54)

Referee: B.R. McGinlay (Balfron). Attendance: 60,346.

Davie Provan and Frank McGarvey with the Scottish Cup, Celtic v Rangers. 2 May 1985. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Davie Provan on the 1985 Scottish Cup final win over Dundee United

“The Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United in 1985 was special because it was the Centenary Final and also because of the manner in which we won it. It also stands out for me because I scored probably my most important goal. It is as well as I ever struck a free-kick.

“We used a different ball for that match from the one we used for league games and it flew about all over the place. I had actually been practising my free-kicks with Murdo MacLeod and I must have missed the target with every kick. So we agreed, if the opportunity arose, he would take the kicks.

But, with time running out – and at 1-0 down – we were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty box and I fancied it. Archie Macpherson was commentating on television, and said: “Only twice in the history of the Scottish Cup have goals been scored direct from free-kicks. I wonder if this will be another.” I was happy to oblige my friend.

“Once I had scored the equaliser, I felt there was only going to be one winner. And, right enough, Frank McGarvey got in a wonderful diving header to seal the win,” Celtic goalscorer, Davie Provan.

Frank McGarvey, celebrates after scoring the winner in the 1985 Scottish Cup Final, 16 May 1985. Photo Mary Evans Allstar

Frank McGarvey on the 1985 Scottish Cup final win over Dundee United

“I had two dreams as a boy. One was to score the winning goal for Celtic in the last minute of an Old Firm game. I did that in my first appearance. I realised the second dream when I scored the winning goal in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden in 1985.

It was the 100th cup final and we were trailing 1-0 to Dundee United going into the final minutes. But Davie Provan netted a superb free-kick to equalise. And then I contributed probably the best goal I scored in my entire life. Roy Aitken had gone up the right wing and put in a terrible cross away from goal to make my life difficult.

“But I ran past David Narey and jumped as high as I could in the air. The ball just seemed to come straight to me and I managed to make good contact with it. I fell to the ground and did not see the ball go into the net. I just heard a tremendous noise and I realised I had scored.

“I am not a particularly religious man, but I did thank God after that for letting me score because I had managed to make so many people happy. There must have been about 50,000 of our supporters in the ground that day and they were loving every minute of our victory.

“Afterwards, Davie said to me: “Enjoy this, Frank, because we won’t get many more moments like it.” Those proved to be prophetic words as we both took ill the following season, resulting in my release. David Hay took over as manager when Billy McNeill left, and I always feel I was unfairly treated by him. Although I played well for him, he wanted his own players. I was 29 and wanted to spend the rest of my days at Celtic, but he sold me on, even though the cup final goal made his job a lot safer,” Celtic goalscorer, Davie Provan.