Ronny Deila claimed his first trophy as Celtic manager with a comfortable 2-0 win over Dundee United at Hampden this afternoon.
Goals in each half from Kris Commons and substitute James Forrest gave Celtic possession of the QTS League Cup - the first time they have won the competition since 2009.
It was a welcome celebration for the Parkhead side but, of more significance, is the fact that it maintains Celtic's ambitions of securing a domestic Treble this season.
Commons had given Celtic first blood when opened the scoring after converting a cross from the left-hand flank from Anthony Stokes.
United keeper Radoslaw Cierzniak was equal to Commons' first attempt as he palmed the ball away with his left hand only for the Celtic attacker to net the rebound.
Commons was denied a second when Cierzniak pulled off an impressive stop but the controversy was all at the other end of the pitch a few minutes later.
Celtic captain Scott Brown - allowed to retain the armband after a midweek blip - barged Ryan Dow in the back.
It was a foolish decision from the midfielder since the mere act of raising his arm at all could have had whistler Bobby Madden looking for the spot. As it was, he escaped sanction for the incident and Celtic grew in dominance as the game wore on.
When Brown's opposite number, United skipper Sean Dillon, saw red shortly before the hour mark for a horror tackle on Emilio Izaguirre it was unlikely that there would be a route back into the game for Jackie McNamara's side.
Dillon, who had taken a knock in the first half after clashing with Van Dijk and had been off the pitch for treatment for eight minutes, went over the ball and caught Izaguirre high and late.
He could have little complaint at being dismissed.
As Celtic attempted to turn the screw on 10-man United, they saw plenty of the ball and plenty of United's penalty box - but couldn't find the necessary clinical finish that would have put them out of reach.
Stefan Johnasen came closest to adding a second when he nipped in front of Jaroslaw Fojut to meet Griffiths' cross, but his attempt came off the woodwork before bouncing out of play.
Deila threw on Forrest and John Guidetti as Celtic tried to close the game out. Van Dijk had a header sneak just over the bar while another of his efforts from a corner sneaked past the post.
Inevitably, however, the Parkhead side doubled their lead.
Forrest, a peripheral figure so far this term, capitalised on Guiedtti's lay-off to fire the ball into the net and effectively kill off any chance of United forcing their way back into the game.
Forrest should have had another when he was felled by Paul Dixon and won the fight with Guidetti to take the spot-kick. It was a poor effort, however, straight down the line at Cierzniak, who saved before United hooked the ball out for a corner.
By that stage Celtic could afford to be profligate. The ribbons were all but tied on the cup.
What they are joined with in the trophy cabinet this May remains to be seen.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article