Martin O’Neill will face his former captain Neil Lennon in the Scottish Cup final after Celtic booked their spot in the showpiece against Dunfermline with an eventful 6-2 extra-time win over St Mirren.
A horror mistake by Saints’ stand-in goalkeeper Ryan Mullen saw Daizen Maeda give the Hoops a first-minute lead at Hampden and to add to their woes the errant No 2 picked up an injury and had to be replaced after just 14 minutes by the 17-year-old debutant Grant Tamosevicius.
The right-back Anthony Ralston added a second on the stroke of half-time, but St Mirren’s striker Mikael Mandron reduced the deficit in the 53rd minute with a header and then took the game to extra time with a deserved 90th-minute leveller.
However, two goals from Kelechi Iheanacho, either side of a strike from fellow substitute Luke Cowan, and a finish from Benjamin Nygren in a ruthless six-minute spell in the first additional period pulverised the Paisley side.
Lennon’s Dunfermline side from the Championship beat Falkirk 4-2 in a penalty shootout on Saturday and he will relish taking on his former manager, under whom he enjoyed success at Leicester and Celtic, in next month’s final.
Fans were still taking their seats when Celtic took the lead. Mullen was in for the injured Shamal George and endured the worst possible start. The 24-year-old had the ball at his feet from a back pass but was caught out by the onrushing Maeda’s speed and succeeded only in striking an attempted clearance off the Japan striker’s leg, with the ball rolling over the line.
St Mirren’s nightmare start boosted the Parkhead side and in the eighth minute midfielder Arne Engels curled a shot from 25 yards against the outside of a post.
Mullen then had to go off, with Tamosevicius taking his place and the youngster had a couple of quick saves to ease the nerves, the second from a decent Maeda drive.
In St Mirren’s first attempt on goal from a 29th-minute corner, Viljami Sinisalo made a brilliant save from Liam Donnelly’s powerful header.
Quick GuideLennon emotional after Dunfermline sink Falkirk in shootout
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Neil Lennon dedicated Dunfermline’s dramatic Scottish Cup semi-final win over Falkirk to his late father, Gerry, after the 4-2 penalty shootout win at Hampden.
The match did not really come to life until the second half of extra time when Lucas Fyfe, Pars’ 17-year-old substitute, hit the bar before the Falkirk substitute Henry Cartwright was sent off after picking up a second yellow card, for diving in the penalty area.
After 120 goalless minutes, The Dunfermline substitute Tashan Oakley-Boothe (pictured with Lennon) scored the decisive penalty to take the Championship side, who are trying to get up to the Premiership through the playoffs, to their first Scottish Cup final in 19 years.
Asked about his immediate thoughts after the match, the former Celtic captain and manager Lennon said: “I was thinking about my father. I lost him in December. He would had loved this. So that was for him.
“He was the biggest influence in my life, professionally and personally so he would have loved this. He would have been outside with cigarette, Fedora, his walking stick, telling everyone: ‘I told you.’
“He would have loved it. So I’m hoping the family will take a bit of solace in this today. It’s been difficult but he’s always been with me. I feel calm when I think about him so. Again, it’s been a huge loss to me, but I feel him sometimes, you know what I mean?”
In the shootout, Falkirk’s Brad Spencer hit a post and Liam Henderson had his penalty saved by Aston Oxborough, with Ben Parkinson and Filip Lissah scoring. Josh Cooper, Charlie Gilmour and Chris Hamilton all scored for Lennon’s side leaving Oakley-Boothe to fire in the winner. PA Media
Sinisalo, almost in the same fashion as Mullen, then hammered a clearance off Killian Phillips and had to stretch back to claw the rebound away from the line, although the referee, Matthew MacDermid, signalled the ball had struck the arm of the midfielder.
Yang Hyun-jun headed a Kieran Tierney cross against the St Mirren bar, but then Sinisalo was charged down and, when the ball fell to Phillips, his weak shot from 16 yards missed a post.
However, in the last action of the first half, Ralston gave Celtic a cushion when he took a pass from Yang and curled a shot from the edge of the box in off the bar.
St Mirren were handed a lifeline when Mandron climbed highest at the back post to send a Declan John delivery across goal and into the net. The match began to get stretched. St Mirren’s direct style and increased confidence paid off in the last minute when Mandron raced on to a Jake Young flick and fired low past Sinisalo. But it all went spectacularly wrong for Craig McLeish’s side in extra time.
Iheanacho nodded in a cross from fellow substitute James Forrest and Cowan stretched the lead further two minutes later as St Mirren’s defence evaporated.
Iheanacho grabbed his second with a clever finish before Nygren drove home as Celtic kept their league and cup double bid alive.
