2015 Scottish Cup final

The 2015 Scottish Cup Final was the 130th final of the Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The match took place at Hampden Park on 30 May 2015 and was contested by Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Ten-man Inverness won the final 2–1 thanks to a late James Vincent goal.^[1]

Inverness subsequently entered the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League in the Second qualifying round. As Inverness also finished 3rd in the 2014–15 Scottish Premiership, this enabled St Johnstone to claim the final 2015–16 UEFA Europa League slot (in previous years this place would have gone to Falkirk as runners-up, as it had in 2009, but the rules were changed from 2015 onwards).^[2]

Background

This was Falkirk's fifth Scottish Cup Final, having previously won twice (1913 against Raith Rovers and 1957 against Kilmarnock) and lost twice (1997 against Kilmarnock and 2009 against Rangers).^[3] It was Inverness' first appearance in the final,^[4] their best performances being reaching the semi-final in 2003 and 2004, losing to Dundee and Dunfermline Athletic respectively.^[5][6][7]

Route to the final

Falkirk

Falkirk, of the Scottish Championship, entered the competition in the Fourth Round. They began their campaign against Cowdenbeath at the Falkirk Stadium. Craig Sibbald scored the goal that sealed the Bairns' passage into the next round.^[8] They then took on Brechin City, winning 2–1 courtesy of goals from David McCracken and David Smith.^[9]

In the quarter-final Falkirk were drawn against Queen of the South. Craig Sibbald's goal sealed a 1–0 victory.^[10] In the semi-final at Hampden Park on 18 April, Falkirk faced Hibernian. A late header from Sibbald sent Falkirk to their first Scottish Cup final since 2009.^[11]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Inverness, of the Scottish Premiership also entered the competition in the Fourth Round, coming from a goal down away at St Mirren to earn a replay which was comfortably won 4–0.^[12] In the Fifth Round, Caley eased their way past another Premiership side in Partick Thistle at Firhill, winning 2–1 to earn a berth in the quarter-finals.^[13] On this occasion they were given a home tie against Championship club Raith Rovers, who were dispatched by a single goal at the Caledonian Stadium.^[14]

This set up a semi-final with favourites Celtic at Hampden Park. Despite going into the tie as underdogs and falling behind to an early strike by Virgil van Dijk, Inverness stunned the Hoops by winning 3–2 after extra-time courtesy of a late David Raven goal to book their place in the final for the first time.^[4]

Pre-match

The match was shown live on BBC Scotland and on Sky Sports.^[15]

Match

Summary

Inverness took the lead in the 38th minute when Marley Watkins ran onto an Aaron Doran pass to round goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald and slot low into the net. Carl Tremarco was sent off for Inverness in the 75th minute for bringing down Blair Alston as the last man. Falkirk leveled the game with ten minutes to go when Peter Grant headed to the net at the back post after a free-kick by Blair Alston on the left of the penalty area. With four minutes to go Inverness got the winning goal when James Vincent finished from six yards out after the goalkeeper had parried out a low shot from Watkins.

Details

Match rules

• 90 minutes
• 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
• Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
• Seven named substitutes
• Maximum of three substitutions

References

1. ^ "Inverness CT’s John Hughes: it will be hard to repeat success of this season". Guardian. 30 May 2015. Archived 15 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
2. ^ "Strategic talks in Dubrovnik". UEFA.org. 20 September 2013. Archived 20 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
3. ^ "Scotland - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF. Archived 14 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
4. ^ Lindsay, Clive (19 April 2015). "Inverness CT 3-2 Celtic". BBC Sport. Archived 22 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
5. ^ Clark, Graham (21 April 2003). "Dundee book their trip to Europe". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
6. ^ Davie, Scott (21 April 2004). "Brewster gives Pars final push". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
7. ^ "John Hughes aims to boost Inverness following". BBC Sport. 27 May 2015. Archived 28 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
8. ^ "Falkirk 1–0 Cowdenbeath". BBC Sport. BBC. 29 November 2014. Archived 4 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
9. ^ "Falkirk 2–1 Brechin". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 February 2015. Archived 23 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
10. ^ "Queen of the South 0–1 Falkirk". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 March 2015. Archived 30 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
11. ^ "Hibernian 0–1 Falkirk". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 April 2015. Archived 12 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
12. ^ "Inverness CT 4-0 St Mirren". BBC Sport. 2 December 2014. Archived 22 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
13. ^ "Partick Thistle 1-2 Inverness CT". BBC Sport. 7 February 2015. Archived 6 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
14. ^ "Inverness CT 1-0 Raith Rovers". BBC Sport. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
15. ^ "Live Scottish Football On TV". Live Football on TV. Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 April 2015.