1904 – Celtic 3-2 Rangers
The story of the 1904 final is one-off of multiple firsts for Celtic and also Scottish football.
In August 1903, the Bhoys had switched from wearing green-and-white stripes to the now world famous green-and-white hoops. Celtic’s first final wearing this shirt was a Glasgow Cup defeat that same year. However, at the end of the 1903-04 season, they had a chance to rectify this.
The Celts were due to meet Rangers in the final at Hampden Park in April 1904. A pre-match newspaper cartoon described this meeting as being between the ‘Old Firm’, a term which stuck. This was also notable as the first final played at the modern day Hampden venue.
Jimmy Quinn, image by Celtic Curio
Early in the match, it looked like being a bad day for the Celts. Rangers raced into a 2-0 lead; it seemed likely the Hoops would suffer defeat. However, a Jimmy Quinn double made it level by the interval. In the second half, Quinn became the first Celt to get a Scottish Cup Final hat-trick, giving the Hoops a 3-2 win.
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