TODAY, May 14, 2020 marks the 32nd anniversary of the day that Celtic clinched the Centenary Year double by lifting the Scottish Cup after defeating Dundee United 2-1 in the final at Hampden.

Just three weeks earlier, a massive crowd at Celtic Park saw the Hoops deliver the league title with a 3-0 win over Dundee as the Birthday Bhoys celebrated in style.

The Tannadice side stood between the Celts and double glory and it looked like they would be party-poopers when Kevin Gallagher opened the scoring soon after the break. However, Frank McAvennie equalised in the 76th minute and then, with time running out, in the final minute as Celtic had done so many times in that historic season, the opposition net rustled again as McAvennie struck once more – cue bedlam on the terraces and in Celtic households everywhere.

Here is how the Celtic View from 32 years ago reported Celtic’s historic Centenary double clincher.

THE centenary season double dream looked over just four minutes after the break against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final when Kevin Gallagher put the Tannadice men ahead.

This was a season of eleventh-hour reversal of fortunes for Celtic, though, when the opposition choked on the final dregs served up in the last-chance saloon and it was a season when no Celtic fans dared leave the game with a couple of minutes to go – they would miss all the action.

Frank McAvennie was Celtic’s last-minute hero on this occasion and there were barely 30 seconds left on the clock when he smacked in the winner to cap a tremendous season all round.

The View said: “On Saturday Dundee United were not trying to preserve their one-goal lead against 11 footballers, they were struggling against the weight of 100 years of history littered with similar scorelines that had so often seemed ridiculously fragile in the face of a Celtic side in full flow.

“At Hampden each one of the 1988 Celts were worthy carriers of the Celtic tradition.

“They had played reasonably well in the first half; certainly better than several others would have you believe. Except for a scare when Paul McStay kicked off his own line, Celtic had the upper hand.

“The Celts though, found problems dealing with United’s wind-assisted clearances into their penalty area at the start of the second half. This danger was underlined when Kevin Gallagher scored a superb opener for United as he shot high past Allen McKnight after outpacing Roy Aitken.

“But this was probably the best thing that could have happened to Celtic. They seemed to discover a higher gear and there was little United could do to stop the onslaught.”

It added: “Stark, a 70th-minute substitute for Whyte, found Rogan, Saturday’s man of the match, on the left and after he neatly turned Malpas his cross was headed into an empty net by McAvennie.

“Now the floodgates were open and Celtic poured everything into attack. McAvennie’s winner 30 seconds from the end was no more than they deserved.”

It could be said that the whole of Scottish football, and Rangers more than most, were fighting a losing battle against a century of Celtic pride.'

On This Day: Celtic clinch Centenary Double in the Hampden sun