ST MIRREN 3 CELTIC 1: Buddies in dreamland… their opponents in a nightmare of their very own making

Under leaden skies, after the wind and rain had finally relented, Stephen Robinson’s jubilant players danced in the centre circle of Hampden in a joyous and manic celebration.

As the League Cup was passed between St Mirren’s players after this historic victory, the plumes of smoke from the pyrotechnics lingered.

The smell of cordite might well have been detected in the air, too. For Celtic, a club already gripped by civil war, the fall-out from this latest catastrophe will be colossal.

This final proved to be the embodiment of where these respective clubs are at this moment in time. St Mirren are united on and off the park. Celtic are divided and increasingly shambolic in everything they do.

Robinson and his players sensed this was a chance to help the club lift the trophy for a second time and write themselves into club folklore.

They got there with a display which was energetic, relentless and inspired. In years to come, the names of Marcus Fraser and Jonah Ayunga will sit beneath the scoreline. But this triumph belonged to all of them.

They were never rattled, even when Reo Hatate cancelled out Fraser’s early opener with a flashing volley. Ayunga might well be given the freedom of Paisley for claiming a second-half brace. The truth is that St Mirren might well have had more.

How do you even start to quantify the job Robinson has overseen in Paisley? Three straight top-six finishes alone would lay claim to being the club’s greatest-ever manager.

Now he’s delivered silverware for just the fifth time in the club’s history. Perhaps there are simply not the words.

Having lost two cup finals to Celtic as Motherwell manager, this day will have felt extra sweet for the Northern Irishman.

For those loyal supporters who believed that the 2013 triumph over Hearts would be as good as it got in their lifetimes, this would have felt like a return to heaven. There will have been no sleep in Paisley last night.

It said much about Celtic that defeat came as absolutely no surprise. True to form, they performed dismally.

Seven months after losing here to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final, it will feel for many like a watershed moment.

A team who came close to eliminating Bayern Munich from the Champions League in February are now in complete freefall.

An abomination of a summer transfer window has reduced the quality of the squad to a pitiful level. On this evidence, the league title will also be ripped from their grasp by May.

Notwithstanding the fact that he’s only taken charge of three matches, serious questions already must be asked about the decision to appoint Wilfried Nancy as manager.

After losing to Hearts and Roma, the Frenchman had to get some kind of performance from his players. Instead, they served up more of the same dross.

Ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Tannadice, Nancy is already a man in deep trouble. The players don’t seem to know what the plan is. The same goes for the supporters. The organisation and structure that Martin O’Neill briefly brought back is no more.

At full-time, rather than consoling his players, the Frenchman gazed at his phone and looked, for all the world, like he wished he was back in Ohio. He looks like a man caught in the wrong movie.

His suitability to manage Celtic will, of course, be only part of this inquest. The club’s hierarchy may be able to shut down an AGM, but there’s now zero confidence in their ability to sort out a mess which is entirely of their own making.

Despite overwhelming evidence suggesting that he had to change his strategy to get a result, Nancy stuck to his guns. There was to be no deviation from the much-debated 3-4-3 system to which his players looked so ill-suited against Hearts and Roma. Within 120 seconds, even he must have questioned his decision.

Keanu Baccus’ out-swinging corner from the right was measured and deep. Celtic’s defence were caught in a trance. Fraser planted his header into the turf and watched it clip the inside of the post and trickle into the net. It sparked scenes of bedlam in the Saints’ section.

Nancy’s players were rattled, conceded needless fouls and turned the ball over. Hatate had a swing and a miss at Kieran Tierney’s whipped cross.

Kelechi Iheanacho did guide Liam Scales’ delivery onto the target with a flashing header. Shamal George pulled off an instinctive save.

At the other end, Saints hoped to capitalise on Celtic’s slackness. Anthony Ralston got away with one error. Scales required Auston Trusty to atone for his lapse as Dan Nlundulu threatened to claim the Buddies’ second.

With Robinson’s men on top, Ayunga rolled Declan John’s cross inches wide. It felt like a significant moment, because Celtic briefly improved.

Iheanacho flashed Scales’ cross just beyond the far post before Miguel Freckleton’s alertness prevented Hatate from bundling home Daizen Maeda’s cross.

Maeda’s pace drew the foul from Fraser which would lead to the equaliser. Saints only half-cleared the set-piece. Tierney picked the ball up on the left flank and flashed a deep cross in Hatate’s direction.

The midfielder’s volley back across goal was superb. Robinson would question why there was no one in attendance.

While Nancy’s men were back in the game, they didn’t dominate. Iheanacho’s troublesome hamstring saw Johnny Kenny sprung from the bench.

Celtic passed and probed, but St Mirren still fashioned the better chance. Baccus should have done better with his rising shot just before the interval.

Content to play on the counterattack, Robinson’s men threatened immediately after the re-start. Alex Gogic was only inches shy of converting Killian Phillips’ cross.

St Mirren’s willingness to do anything to stop Celtic from playing through them was typified by four black and white shirts hunting down Maeda as he threatened to advance on goal.

As the hour mark came up, Celtic had more of the ball. St Mirren were much more effective when they had it, though.

The Paisley men’s second goal was not ill-deserved. They lost possession and immediately won it back. 

Gogic’s ball into the danger zone found Ayunga completely unmarked. Kasper Schmeichel advanced into no-man’s land and Ayunga clipped a header over him.

Schmeichel was mighty fortunate not to immediately concede again. Baccus was penalised for clipping his heels when no such foul had taken place.

Saints would not be denied the third. Declan John broke from his own half like an Olympic sprinter and demonstrated incredible reserves of energy to keep going when two Celtic defenders blocked his path.

He showed composure to square the ball to Ayunga. The forward’s shot had too much pace for Schmeichel and the Paisley men were in dreamland.

The strong hand George managed to get to Colby Donovan’s fierce low strike ensured they stayed there. There was no be no repeat of the suffering they have often endured from late goals against Celtic this season.

A few minutes later, the trophy was deservedly theirs. It will be a very Merry Christmas in Paisley. In Glasgow’s East End, the misery of this campaign appears to be unrelenting.