St Mirren came from two goals down to force an extra 30 minutes before Celtic ran riot
St Mirren ended up with a teenage keeper who’d only just ditched his L plates.
But it was Celtic who managed to survive the rocky return road to Hampden.
Martin O’Neill is set for a Scottish Cup Final finale – against his former favourite Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline.
Don’t fall for the eventual scoreline – this was far from a smooth journey.
The final result was brutal on the brave Buddies who fought back from two goals down to send the clash into extra time and then ended up winning 6-2.
Celtic were blowing a gasket by that stage but put the foot down with an incredible first period blitz put them out of sight.
Craig McLeish’s men suffered some serious setbacks. Stand-in keeper Ryan Mullen gifted an opener inside 55 seconds before limping off and being replaced by 17-year-old Grant Tamosevicius – who only recently secured his driving license.
The kid passed this test with flying colours but his side agonisingly collapsed after battling back at the National Stadium.
Celtic thought they were streets ahead when Tony Ralston smashed in a second but Mikel Mandron pulled one back and then levelled in stoppage time.
Saints had the foot on the gas while Celts were spluttering. But the Hoops hit top gear again with sub Kelechi Iheanacho bagging a double and Luke McCowan and Benjamin Nygren also finding the net in a stunning extra time explosion to keep O’Neill on track for more silverware.
It was cruel on a Saints side whose gameplan went off road within a minute after Mullen suffered his nightmare.
The stand-in keeper should have been wary of Maeda lurking and stuck his foot through the ball.
Instead the Japanese pressing machine charged him down and Mullen was fishing the ball out the back of his net.
Celts survived a couple of scares – but Ralston raced on to Yang’s back heel and blasted a screamer in off the bar with the last kick of the half.
Saints were stung but roared out in the second period to deservedly strike back after 53 minutes when Mandron barged through Kieran Tierney to batter his header in the bottom corner.
The Buddies kept the foot on the gas and finally broke through as the clock hit 90 when Mandron raced on to Jake Young’s flick to drill past Sinisalo.
Celtic were blowing a gasket – but the clash took another wild turn with an extra time blitz.
Iheanacho turned it around when he deftly steered in James Forrest’s cracking cross and moments later when McCowan kept his cool to tuck away the fourth.
The Nigerian striker superbly buried number five with his left foot at the near post and then Nygren then coolly slotted a sixth to finally allow Celtic to eventually cruise over the line.
Here's five talking points from a Hampden epic:
FAIRTALE FINAL
It’s certainly not all gone to script for O’Neill on his remarkable return this season but a Hampden showpiece in May is looking like a heck of a way to bow out.
The Northern Irishman is still in the fight for the title but the Scottish Cup might be the best bet for a trophy this term.
And the fact he’ll be up against his former favourite Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline only adds to the blockbuster appeal in a year that’s been far stranger than fiction.
TOMBOLA TRUMPS
O’Neill will have plenty of time to worry about a line-up for the Final – but no one will guess it anyway.
Record Sport’s Chris Sutton called It the tombola and once again the Hoops’ gaffer’s team sheet was full of surprises.
Tomas Cvancara was binned completely, Sebastian Tounetki came back from nowhere while Arne Engels returned to the starting XI.
It worked at times – but not enough.
Celts looked shaky, slack in possession and lacking any real cohesion or control.
The introduction of Iheanacho made a major difference but with the frontman unable to play 90 minutes, the tombola will keep spinning.
HAPPY DAIZ
Celtic’s opening goal might have been the most Daizen Maeda goal ever. The early strike ended a barren run of 17 games without a goal and while Maeda buried everything last season, he hasn’t hit a barn door this time around and struggled again here.
Iheanacho showed what a marksman can do and O’Neill has to hope Maeda’s goal can spark a return to form.
KID’S A KEEPER
It was already a blow losing Shamal George between the sticks – but it was only the start of Saints' goalie nightmares.
Stand-in Ryan Mullen endured a miserable 14 minutes, gifting Celtic an opener inside 60 seconds and then suffering a thigh injury soon after.
The former Hoops academy product tried to struggle on but eventually limped off and it meant teenager Grant Tamosevicius was in at the deep end.
The kid responded superbly with a couple of smart saves and he looked far more composed with the ball at his feet than either of the other two keepers out there.
The Buddies refused to allow the keeper strife to hinder them and Tamosevicius did himself proud and didn’t deserve to ship six.
SAINTS IN A SCRAP
The dream cup double might be over for Saints but there’s still a heck of a lot to fight for this season.
Lifting the League Cup back in December won’t be forgotten for a lifetime, but the Buddies don’t want to take any shine off the campaign by getting dragged into relegation bother.
On recent displays they won’t need to worry. There’s been a real upturn in form in the last few weeks and the back-to-back defeat to Celtic should only add to their belief rather than damage it, despite the harsh way this finished.
More of this and Saints should have enough to avoid any play-off stress.
