Celtic manager Neil Lennon says his players are physically and mentally ready for next Sunday’s Scottish Cup final as they ended their Scottish Premier League campaign with a 4-0 win over Dundee United.
The champions warmed up for the final at Hampden by ending a run of six away matches without a win with an emphatic victory at Tannadice.
Kris Commons opened the scoring in the 11th through a long-range free-kick that took a slight deflection before Georgios Samaras added another in the 17th minute.
Samaras had an effort ruled out for offside before he headed in a third in the 27th minute as Celtic dominated.
Celtic continued their onslaught in the second half and Gary Hooper thought he had added a fourth in the 53rd minute but his effort was also chalked off after the striker had strayed offside.
Substitute Anthony Stokes put the icing on the cake for Celtic in the 85th minute when he tried his luck from distance, and for the third time in the match, United keeper Radoslaw Cierzniak was beaten by a deflection.
Since clinching their second successive SPL championship three weeks ago Lennon had handed several top team stars time off but most featured in the win against United.
And the Celtic manager says they are sufficiently rested as they bid to finish the season by clinching a domestic double.
“It’s been a funny few weeks with some of them getting a break but I felt it was a necessity,” Lennon admitted.
“We look OK but a cup final is all about the day and we just hope we’ve got the preparation and the timing right for that.
“They are match sharp now and you could see that today. There’s no midweek games now which is great and we’ve been able to let them recover naturally.
“Some of them are well into the 50s with the number of games they’ve played.
“The season is almost starting as it’s finishing so we had to let them switch off for a while because the demands are high.
“We will have to play well next week. I watched Hibs yesterday and they were excellent and they had left a couple of players out.
“They have their own huge incentives to win it but we have ours as well.
“I’m really pleased with the last couple of performances now.
“We only have a worry about James Forrest, Charlie Mulgrew and Adam Matthews now to see if they are going to make it but that performance sets us up nicely for next week.”
The win against United brings the curtain down on a successful league campaign for Celtic, who finished 16 points above second-placed Motherwell.
However, the Hoops have struggled for consistency at times and finish the season with the lowest ever points tally to clinch the title and missed the chance for a treble after losing their League Cup semi-final to St Mirren.
“We’ve been inconsistent at times. There is no doubt that the Champions League games took a lot out of the players going into their corresponding league games,” Lennon, whose side reached the last 16 of Europe’s elite competition, said.
“That’s not just exclusive to us, it’s been the case for a lot of teams playing Champions League football.
“It was their first year and I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
“We’ve done what we had to do and that’s win the championship. The only setback we’ve had in all the competitions was in the League Cup semi-final against St Mirren.
“But they’re not robots and have been playing at the sharp end now for 11 months and you can see that they are still going strong which is great.”
Elsewhere, Inverness Caledonian Thistle lost out on an historic first foray into European competition following a 1-0 defeat in the Highland derby against Ross County.
Canadian international Andre Hainault’s first half volley was enough to deny Terry Butcher’s side third place as goals from Liam Craig and Nigel Hasselbaink saw St Johnstone defeat Motherwell and leapfrog Inverness into the European spots.
Lennon backs weary Celtic for Cup
