Neil Lennon credited his players for their character to shoulder the weight of expectation and win a quadruple treble. The dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Hearts saw Celtic win a 12th consecutive domestic trophy. And the Hoops also became the first club ever to win four consecutive Scottish Cups.

Defeating Hearts proved difficult, with Robbie Neilson’s side twice coming from behind in normal time to take the game to extra-time. Leigh Griffiths made it 3-2 to Celtic in the 105th minute but Josh Ginnelly drew Hearts level four minutes from the end to take the game to penalties.

Conor Hazard made two saves in the shoot-out to allow Kristoffer Ajer the chance to conclude the game with the decisive penalty. Neil Lennon said the game highlighted how impressive an achievement winning the Scottish Cup for a fourth consecutive time was and praised the team for emerging as winners.

“I hope it gives everyone a sense of perspective on how difficult an achievement this has been over the four years,” said the Celtic manager. “Some people take it for granted and expected it of them as if they just have to roll up and win and it’s not as easy as that, they’re human beings.

'The weight of expectation weighed heavy on them today but they still found the will to win.'

"I thought we should have won the game inside the 90 minutes or 120 minutes. We didn’t defend set-plays as well as we should have done but we got pushed.

“Winning the cup means as much to Hearts as it does to us. We had this quadruple treble to win and that’s a huge burden, but that expectation is lifted now and you’ll never see anything like this again. The players thoroughly deserve it because it’s a monumental achievement.”

Conor Hazard’s saves were crucial in deciding the outcome of the game and Neil Lennon said the Celtic goalkeeper should be proud of playing such an important role.

“I don’t know if the occasion got to him a little bit," he said. "We didn’t deal with set plays the way we should have been but we’re playing with a young goalkeeper in a cup final in only his third senior game so we need to cut him some slack.

“I said to him he just wanted it to go to penalties to show off and be the hero! He’s written his own little piece of history for the club with two fantastic saves when we really needed it. It’s only his third senior game so it’s a great achievement for him.”

Neil Lennon hails players' character behind Quadruple Treble success