Kilmarnock squad to attend funeral of Liam Kelly's father "We'll be there to support Liam and his family, there's no question of that," said the Irishman. It'll be in Milton Keynes and that's in front of us but it's not on the agenda this week. Shiels is confident that the 22 year-old, who had been one of his most influential performers at the national stadium, will recover from the tragedy and continue to progress. "Liam's a very mature boy so he'll be able to cope, although this has definitely been hard for him," he said. Given time he'll realise that his dad was there to see him win the cup. The problem, though, is that the memory of his greatest day will always have that cloud over it. While the death cast a long shadow over what was a famous triumph for the Ayrshire club, Shiels and his players made a point of returning to the town to participate in a victory parade in an open-topped coach. "There was a massive parade around the town," said Shiels. There were thousands and thousands of people there waiting for us: it was unbelievable. Kilmarnock, as a town, has been crying out for something like that. It gives people hope that things can be achieved against the odds. It was a traumatic evening for Shiels and his players, who were in no mood to celebrate following the passing of Kelly's father. Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam Tweeted his condolences on Sunday evening. "Thoughts go out to Killie player Liam Kelly after what happened today @ league cup final," he wrote. There is a danger, though, that - in the wake of the bereavement - a momentous display by the underdogs may be forgotten. It shouldn't be. Shiels flooded the midfield, an area in which Celtic were over-run until Ki Sung-Yeung, a 56th-minute substitute, managed to get up to speed with the rhythm of the game. After being critical of Ayr United manager Brian Reid's negative tactics in their semi-final, it was hardly a surprise when Shiels set his team out to take the game to Celtic. Too many clubs have attempted to play for penalties or simply settled for damage limitation against either of the Old Firm in Hampden finals over the years so it was refreshing to see Kilmarnock play constructively and fluently. They merited the victory, although they were aided to an extent by their opponents, whose performance reeked of complacency. "We can accept congratulations but we need to be careful about the tone of everything," said Shiels. I thought that, in the game, we gave as good as we got and probably edged it. The performance of the team was ultra-special. The better pitch also helped us because we like to get the ball down and pass it. Shiels set for new deal Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston revealed that he intends to hold new contract talks with Shiels, whose current deal ends in the summer. "I spoke to Kenny a few weeks ago about extending his contract until next season at least," Johnston said. Kenny said he would speak to (assistant manager) Jimmy Nicholl about that so we had open discussions on that. I'm delighted that Kenny has gained this well deserved success. It's a fantastic achievement for Kilmarnock Football Club and now we've got our own treble. We've won the League, the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.