Celtic 'boxed the head off' Rangers as Irish legend offers unique take on Hampden 'bout'

Irish managerial legend Roddy Collins claims Celtic “boxed the head off” Rangers at Hampden as he compared the Scottish Cup semi final between the fierce rivals as two fighters slugging it out in the ring.

Collins, manager of part-time Bohemians when they humiliated Aberdeen in the UEFA Cup just over 20 years ago, admitted his love for the Old Firm derby fixture and the brother of former boxing world champion Steve used the pugilism analogy to give his take of the contest in his column for the Irish Mirror.

The 60-year-old, who managed a dozen clubs during his time as boss, including a spell in England with Carlisle United, wrote: “Celtic got this victory because they outplayed Rangers in the first half and then stood toe to toe with them in the second. It reminded me of a boxing fight. There's this old saying in The Sweet Science, that if you are fighting a scrapper, you box him, and if you are fighting a boxer, you engage him in a scrap.

“So in the first half yesterday, Celtic boxed the head off them. But fair play to Michael Beale, the Gers coach reconsidered his plans. He clearly said to his players at half-time, 'let's make it dirty and scrappy - let's pile into the box, let's fight our way back into this game’. And they did. They bombed forward, launching one aerial attack after another.

“But another old fashioned art, that of competing for every challenge, of heading the ball away, that was so evident in the Hampden Park rain. Cameron-Carter Vickers was brilliant, heading it away, time after time.

“Yes, it wasn't The Beautiful Game we saw. But there is an art to winning. There is a quality in knowing how to dig in, to bite hard on the gum shield, as they say in the boxing game. Celtic were disciplined in