Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Caley Thistle defender Danny Devine proud after pushing Celtic far in Scottish Cup final

The experienced centre-half adds a runners-up medal to his winners' prize from 2015 after 3-1 final loss against the treble-winning Hoops.

Inverness defender Danny Devine slides in to challenge Celtic ace Jota. Image: Craig Foy/SNS Group
Inverness defender Danny Devine slides in to challenge Celtic ace Jota. Image: Craig Foy/SNS Group

Danny Devine was a Scottish Cup winner eight years ago with Caley Thistle – and he took plenty of pride at being a runner-up to Celtic in Saturday’s Hampden final showdown.

The experienced centre-half helped ICT win the coveted silverware in 2015 as a top-table club, beating the Hoops in the semis and Falkirk in the final.

This time, Inverness are a Championship team, and they came up against the green giants, whose 3-1 triumph in the sunshine landed their club a world-record eighth domestic treble.

Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada gave Celtic a two-goal cushion before a late header from on-loan Hibs winger Dan MacKay halved the scoreline. Celtic wrapped it up in stoppage-time thanks to a strike from Jota.

Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi scores to make it 1-0.
Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi scores to make it 1-0. Image: Rob Casey/SNS Group

Wild predictions in the build-up to the match had many of a green persuasion expecting a thumping rout, but Caley Thistle were well-drilled and made life tough, with the opening goal not arriving until seven minutes before the break.

Two cup finals in eight years for ICT

When asked whether he can still walk away from Hampden proud of the club’s efforts, Devine said: “Of course. This is sport, this is football. You win some, you lose some. Celtic are the best team in the country. We learn from it.

“We had that amazing time in 2015, but this is us on the other end of it. Where the club has come in such a short space of time is incredible.

“Two cup finals in eight years. We look forward and we keep looking to build on what we’ve done so far.

“Celtic have top players. I remember watching the Real Madrid game (3-0 defeat, but 0-0 for almost an hour last September) and in the first half they were unbelievable. We managed them for large parts of the game.

“I know we weren’t as much of a threat going forwards as we would have liked to have been, but I thought we stifled them for as long as we could and got the goal back.

“Obviously, anything can happen. They’re a good team and they deserved to win.”

Around 6500 Inverness fans roared on their heroes at Hampden.
Around 6500 Inverness fans roared on their heroes at Hampden. Image: Rob Casey/SNS Group

Four-week break not reason for loss

Caley Thistle went into Saturday’s final without a competitive fixture since May 5 when their league season ended in a 2-1 defeat against Ayr United, which denied them a play-off spot. 

Devine says that was not the reason they lost to Celtic, but the 30-year-old defender admits it didn’t help their cause.

He said: “You can’t emulate game situations in training – that competitive edge, the sharpness. You just can’t do it.

Dan MacKay celebrates his goal, which brought the score briefly to 2-1 late in the game.
Dan MacKay celebrates his goal, which brought the score briefly to 2-1 late in the game. Image: Craig Foy/SNS Group

“The four-week break isn’t the reason we lost. We could have had games all the way up and could have run out of steam. But Celtic are an incredible team.

“We did ourselves proud in terms of sticking to our task. We would have liked to have been a bit braver and created some more chances, but it’s difficult. All credit to them. It’s a sore one. It was a great achievement getting here, but we look forward to next season.”

Devine keen to remain at Inverness

Devine is one of 13 senior players who, along with boss Billy Dodds and his coaches, are now out of contract.

The Northern Irishman hinted he wants to be part of a fresh promotion push in the Championship.

He added: “It’s a club that constantly needs to rebuild. Players move on and we’ll see what happens. If I’m still around next season, then we go again and we keep defying the odds in that sense.”

Danny Devine arriving at Hampden with ICT team-mate Billy Mckay.
Danny Devine (left) arriving at Hampden with ICT team-mate Billy Mckay ahead of Scottish Cup final. Image: Craig Williamson/SNS Group

Summer rebuild ahead of new season

And Devine is confident the club will be well equipped for a fresh push for a step up to the top-flight next year.

He said: “I think we have a good mix of experienced boys who have been around the block and been in the Premiership for several years.

“We have some good young lads coming through, so it’s just about building. Last season (in 2022), we went close to getting back in the Premiership.

“We didn’t have a lot of rest coming into this season and all the injuries. If I’m still here, we need to keep looking to build, but we’ll see what happens in the summer.”

Conversation