BRENDAN Rodgers may ordinarily abstain from drinking alcohol, but the Celtic manager certainly seemed to savour his double treble yesterday.

Rodgers became the first man in the history of Scottish football to oversee a clean sweep of domestic trophies in successive seasons with a comfortable triumph over their top flight opponents that was effectively sewed up in the opening half an hour.

The cynics may be reluctant to mention the Northern Irishman in the same breath as his legendary predecessor Jock Stein due to the gulf that now exists between the Glasgow club and their rivals and it is certainly true that at no stage before has it ever been so great.

Yet Rodgers, who has now won all six of the tournaments his side has entered in this country since being appointed two years ago today, has done something that Stein, try as he might, was unable to and he was quite entitled to uncork the champagne for once and celebrate what was a remarkable success.

His team was once again utterly professional and completely ruthless against a Motherwell team who deserve great credit for how they competed in what was their second cup final of the 2017/18 campaign; first-half strikes from Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham secured the triumph they craved.

Bertie Auld and Henrik Larsson, two all-time Celtic greats, were among those in the 49,967-strong crowd, and their joyous reaction to both the performance and achievement told its own story.

Michael Buffer, the famous boxing MC, read out the respective teams before kick-off and then they were, to borrow his catchphrase, ready to rumble. But it soon became apparent it was a no contest.

Celtic dominated possession to a ridiculous degree and quickly took control of proceedings. Motherwell defended well in the early exchanges. Tom Aldred denied Dembele and Charles Dunne halted Forrest with a perfectly-timed tackle. But it was only a matter of time before the favourites edged in front and they did so after 11 minutes.

Aldred headed a Mikael Lustig cross out of his area and McGregor showed great reactions to steal in front of Liam Grimshaw and Chris Cadden, pinch possession and then rifle a shot beyond Trevor Carson and into the net off the inside of the left post.

The Scotland midfielder has become a man for the big occasion for his club. This season he had netted in the Europa League last 32 game against Zenit St Petersburg and also in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers. His goal and all-round display yesterday capped a fine campaign.

Taking the lead lifted the defending champions and knocked the stuffing out their rivals. Celtic had ample opportunities to build on their tally – Dembele volleyed a Kieran Tierney cut back over the crossbar, Tom Rogic had a shot deflected wide for a corner and then Dembele headed a McGregor corner above his intended target – and they finally did so in the 25th minute.

Dembele laid the ball back to his countryman Ntcham just outside the D on the Motherwell penalty box and the French midfielder did well to drill a low right foot shot into the bottom left corner. It was a simple goal, but the celebration from the scorer, cartwheels and a somersault, was spectacular.

Motherwell certainly had their chances. If they had been more composed when they got into the Celtic area twice inside the first five minutes then they could have caused an upset. But Liam Grimshaw overhit a pass to Allan Campbell outside him and then Curtis Main hooked a hot wide of goal. They needed to take their opportunities and they failed to do so.

Stephen Robinson’s side responded far better to the second strike than they had the first. Cadden forced a save from Craig Gordon from an acute angle while Main also had an attempt after being teed up by Grimshaw.

Gordon was certainly the busier of the two keepers in the second-half. He tipped a Main effort over, gathered a long-range Campbell shot and then blocked a speculative effort from Cadden. He had Dedryck Boyata to thank for diverting a piledriver from Gael Bigirimana, who had replaced his captain Carl McHugh, out.

But Celtic had altered their game plan by that stage. They were sitting far deeper, protecting their lead and looking to kill off their top flight on the counter attack. They should have done so. Carson produced a magnificent double save from Dembele in the 71st minute to keep Motherwell’s slender hopes of drawing level alive.

Motherwell’s notoriously, some would say excessively, physical approach to the game was certainly evident throughout the 90 minutes. Campbell, Grimshaw and Richard Tait were all booked by referee Kevin Clancy, who enjoyed an excellent first Scottish Cup final, and more could have been yellow carded. Emotions frequently ran high as Celtic players took exception to some of their late challenges.

Boyata also had his name taken after pulling back Cadden as he bore down on goal in the 79th minute. Bigirimana took the free-kick and struck the woodwork. It was no surprise the Motherwell supporters stayed en masse to applaud their heroes at the end. The defeated side competed valiantly throughout, but were ultimately outclassed.