Season 1923/24 had been one of the poorer ones for Celtic, in spite of their having a plethora of big names in the side. The club had finished third in the league table behind Rangers and Airdrie; and had also lost to Rangers in the first round of the Glasgow Cup.
However, the big shock of the season came in the Scottish Cup and it occurred down at Rugby Park, when a Kilmarnock side which had finished a lowly fifth from bottom in the league, beat Celtic 2-0 in a first-round tie, the crowd of 17,500 hardly able to believe what they were seeing. It would be the only time in the decade of the 1920s that Celtic would go out of that competition in the first round.
That left only the Charity Cup to play for and Celtic beat Queen’s Park in the semi-final to go through to the final where Rangers would be the opponents, the match taking place on this day in 1924 at Hampden.
27,000 were there to see the action and the feeling among the fans was that Rangers were favourites. They certainly started the better against a Celtic defence sometimes all at sea and made a lot of chances. The only one that counted, though , was the equaliser by Alan Morton in 32 minutes, Patsy Gallacher having opened the scoring for Celtic with a header.
Shortly into the second half, Willie McStay grabbed what would prove to be the winner after a goalmouth scramble and then, alongside his brother Jimmy and John McFarlane, formed a defensive line which Rangers could not breach.
The final score was Celtic 2 Rangers 1.
The Celtic Team – Shaw, McNair, Hilley, W McStay, J McStay, McFarlane, Connolly, Gallacher, Cassidy, A Thomson, McGrory.
Jim Craig
GET THE NEW CELTIC NEWS NOW APP!
OUR BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY T-SHIRTS
The Celtic Star, since we named these games against Rangers as Beautiful Sunday, have decided to release a very special, limited edition t-shirt, in a choice of colours – green and white. Have a look at the designs and if you would like to order these are available to buy now at www.thecelticstarbookstore.co.uk
A UNIQUE PHOTO-TOUR OF CELTIC PARK
Listen to the podcast on Acast, Itunes, MP3 or below
CHECK OUT OUR SLIDE SHOW FROM TYNECASTLE YESTERDAY BELOW:
WRITE FOR THE CELTIC STAR
If you would like to write for The Celtic Star on any other Celtic related subject please email your contribution to editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we will do the rest.
