2012 Scottish League Cup Final Scottish League Cup Final when they beat Rangers 2–0. Kilmarnock had reached the final five times before without success. Their last previous appearance was in the 2007 Scottish League Cup Final when they lost 5–1 to Hibernian. In the build-up to the match Celtic were considered the favourites and Kilmarnock the underdogs. Celtic had the chance of winning the Treble and the League Cup was the first part of that. Kilmarock manager Kenny Shiels said that he thought Celtic deserved to win the Treble and that they were the best team in Scotland. However, he also felt that his side
Kenny Shiels Securely in charge, Shiels led the club to an 8–0 drubbing of Newry Town in the next match, the second of what proved to be a twenty match unbeaten league run. With his younger brother Sammy Shiels, who had played under Kenny Shiels' management at Carrick, leading the line in scoring 25 league goals, Coleraine won the title, and thus promotion, a full fifteen points ahead of runners-up Ballymena United. The club would also win the inaugural Irish News Cup, a competition for Irish League and League of Ireland clubs in North-West Ireland, that same season. The following season began