Inverness manager Billy Dodds was proud of his players after their Hampden efforts against treble-winning Celtic.
Caley Thistle restricted the champions to few chances before Kyogo Furuhashi swept home a 38th-minute winner in the Scottish Cup final.
Half-time sub Liel Abada doubled Celtic’s lead but Inverness fought back through Dan MacKay before Jota sealed a 3-1 win in stoppage-time.
“Everything a losing manager feels, you are disappointed, but proud at the same time.
“There’ s a massive gulf between the teams but I thought we asked them questions at certain times, I really did.
“We lost goals at bad times, because i was trying to get to half-time, had a plan in my head, then we lost a goal when I was going to make an attacking substitution.
“I love working with this group and after being idle for five weeks or so, I thought they put on a hell of a performance.
“I am absolutely thrilled by the way they dug in and what they gave me in terms of effort and determination.”
Dodds added: “Every manager talks about character and all that we have and we certainly did to come back into the game.
“Wallace Duffy whips in a great ball and it’s a brilliant finish from Dan MacKay.”
