Celtic will face Dunfermline Athletic in next month’s Scottish Cup final after coming through a dramatic clash with St Mirren at Hampden, settled by a breathtaking spell in extra time.
At 2-2, the game was hanging in the balance. St Mirren had fought their way back from two goals down, dragging the tie into extra time and swinging the momentum in their favour.
But what followed turned everything on its head.
Within six frantic minutes, Celtic blew the contest wide open. A quickfire double from substitute Kelechi Iheanacho and Luke McCowan ripped the belief out of the Paisley side, flipping the mood of the match in an instant.
Iheanacho then struck again to make it five, putting the outcome beyond any doubt and underlining Celtic’s ruthless edge when it mattered most.
There was still time for one more moment of quality. Sweden international Benjamin Nygren added further gloss to the scoreline, netting his 20th goal of an outstanding debut campaign.
What had looked like a tense, finely poised battle quickly turned into a statement finish, sending Celtic through in emphatic fashion.
St Mirren could be left with little choice but to bring in a goalkeeper on an emergency loan for the remainder of the season after injuries disrupted their Scottish Cup semi final push.
Already missing first choice stopper Shamal George through injury, his replacement Ryan Mullen suffered a problem just 14 minutes into the Hampden meeting with Celtic. He was taken off and replaced by 17 year old Grant Tamesevicius, who was making his senior debut.
St Mirren eventually fell to a 6-2 defeat after extra time and while the youngster handled a tough introduction well, head coach Craig McLeish admits the club may have to act quickly to find a new number one.
Mullen picked up a thigh injury and George was seen wearing a moon boot. St Mirren currently sit three points clear of the relegation play off spot in the Premiership and take on Livingston in their first bottom six fixture next weekend.
“I think he said when he went to kick, I think he’s caught the ground,” McLeish commented on Mullen. “He’s pulled his thigh muscle. We need to assess him over the next few days and see how that looks.”
On George, McLeish continued: “We’re not sure how long that will be. He got a scan yesterday. We’re still waiting on the results for that. There may be a chance that he’s back in relatively quickly with it, depending on the scan results, we just have to see what that looks like.”
Asked whether St Mirren might need to explore the loan market, McLeish replied: “That’s something we might need to look at and assess.”