Inverness Caley Thistle defender Robbie Deas confirms Scottish Cup final was his last game for the club as he will be leaving when his contract expires
Robbie Deas has confirmed that the Scottish Cup final was his last game for Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
The 23-year-old defender has been a key part of the Caley Thistle squad since joining in 2020, but his time in the Highland capital will come to an end this summer.
Recovering from a broken leg earlier this season, Deas has generally been a fixture in the starting 11 when available.
That included two run outs at Hampden in recent weeks in the semi final win over Falkirk and the 3-1 defeat to Celtic in the final.
Afterwards, he revealed that he will be leaving the club when his contract expires this summer, although he had nothing but positive things to say about his time with Inverness.
"I'm not staying at the club unfortunately," he confirmed.
"I've loved my time at the club, it has been unbelievable. The fans have been brilliant and the gaffer has been outstanding.
"It's been a tough season coming back from a broken leg, but I've said before that I want to be playing at the highest level. I'm gutted it's not with Inverness, because I do believe this team is good enough to win the league, but I am going to be moving on.
"I can't say too much more than that just now, but I'm gutted it's over and excited for what's coming at the same time.
"I left Celtic because I wanted to play first team football, and as you can see it's very difficult to do that at Celtic.
"Inverness gave me an opportunity, and I'd like to think I haven't done badly.
"My first season we struggled throughout, but then nearly got into the play-offs. Last season we were 45 minutes away from Premiership football, and then this year I'm finishing off with a Scottish Cup final.
"I've not won anything, but I've gained so much. I've fallen in love with the city, it's beautiful and the people are so nice. It's a place I can call home and I'll always be able to come back to and feel happy.
"I've played over 175 professional games, and it's well over 100 for Inverness.
"You can come up and just focus on football. For young players like myself or Scott Allardice, it's brilliant, so I would 100 per cent recommend it to other people."
As far as a final swan songs go, the Scottish Cup final was not a bad way to go out at Inverness for Deas.
Deas had a busy afternoon as Caley Thistle went toe-to-toe with the treble winners for long parts of the game, but eventually Celtic's greater quality in the final third told.
For Deas, it was a learning curve, but also a special moment that will live with him for a long time.
"It was tiring – I've never been so tired in my life, especially in that heat," he added.
"They're champions for a reason, and to hold on for as long as we did and get back to 2-1, we gave ourselves a chance but we just ran out of energy at the end.
"Conceding the goal at the end was probably more fatigue than anything else, but we had them shaking in the last five minutes and gave ourselves hope.
"I think adrenaline kicks in when you're going into a final, but you need to be switched on all the time.
"The movement for their goals was top class. We dealt with Celtic well, but the goals we lost were poor – we could have dealt with those a lot better.
"I actually learned a lot today. I was delighted just to get myself into a cup final – not many people get to play in a Scottish Cup final, and playing against a team of that quality was massive.
"It was everything to me. I grew up coming to Hampden and watching my whole life.
"It's a moment I will treasure forever, so I'm delighted. I want to be striving for more – I want to be winning trophies like this. That's the aim."