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<\/p>\nMartin O’Neill’s men booked their spot in the Scottish Cup final with a 6-2 win over St Mirren<\/p>\n
17:00, 19 Apr 2026Updated 02:05, 20 Apr 2026<\/p>\n
Celtic 6 St Mirren 2 – Best of the Scottish Cup action<\/p>\n
A sensational extra-time rout of St Mirren<\/a> saw Celtic book their spot in the Scottish Cup final.<\/p>\n Martin O’Neill<\/a> will lead the Glasgow giants back to Hampden next month to face off against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline Athletic in the showpiece final.<\/p>\n Master vs apprentice stuff.<\/p>\n But the Hoops didn’t have it all their own way, as the Premier Sports Cup winners – who saw off Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic last time these two face off at the national stadium – fought back from 2-0 down and took the game to extra-time.<\/p>\n However, in the end was a convincing win as Celtic <\/a>netted four in the first-half of extra-time<\/a> for a 6-2 win. But how did the players rate? Record Sport takes a look.<\/p>\n Celtic<\/p>\n Viljami Sinisalo 6<\/p>\n The keeper made a brilliant save to deny Liam Donnelly. Looked shaky with back passes and got out of jail on occasion. Could do little with either goal.<\/p>\n Anthony Ralston 7<\/p>\n Was steady and solid. Scored a great goal at the end of the first period. The left-hand flank was then exposed. Steadied things late on.<\/p>\n Auston Trusty 7<\/p>\n The big defender was another who started well. The US international stood up well to the muscle of Mandron and Ayunga. Celtic\u2019s best defender.<\/p>\n Benjamin Arthur 6<\/p>\n The on-loan Brentford defender started strongly. He looked dominating but started to struggle when St Mirren put them under pressure. Replaced before extra-time.<\/p>\n Kieran Tierney 7<\/p>\n The left-back was his usual self up the left. Got forward whenever he could and kept the back door closed. Team dropped when he went off.<\/p>\n Arne Engels 6<\/p>\n The Belgian came back in for his first start since February. It was a welcome sight for Celtic. He cracked a shot off the post. Booked.<\/p>\n Callum McGregor 7<\/p>\n The captain has come in for some criticism of late, but his experience was vital on this stage to keep Celtic ticking over. Always available.<\/p>\n Benjamin Nygren 7<\/p>\n The Swede is often criticised for being nothing more than a goalscorer. He showed more than that in this game. He was a big threat and got his goal.<\/p>\n Yang 6<\/p>\n Was a persistent threat down the right for Celtic. Caused St Mirren’s backline a lot of problems. Produced a great assist for the Ralston goal.<\/p>\n Daizen Maeda 8<\/p>\n Played through the middle. It worked a treat as he scored the opener. His pace was a concern and never gave St Mirren any respite.<\/p>\n Sebastien Tounekti 6<\/p>\n The winger can be hot or cold. This was one of his warmer performances. Created a few opportunities for his team. Celtic need it more consistently.<\/p>\n Subs<\/p>\n James Forrest (Tounekti 61) Put in the cross for Iheanacho\u2019s goal 2.<\/p>\n Luke McCowan (Engels 74) Netted the killer fourth 3.<\/p>\n Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (McGregor 74) Quiet performance 1.<\/p>\n Kelechi Iheanacho (Yang 83) Turned the knife with two goals 5.<\/p>\n Marcel Saracchi (Tierney 83) Did a job 2<\/p>\n Dane Murray (Arthur 91) Saw the game out 2.<\/p>\n St Mirren<\/p>\n Ryan Mullen 1<\/p>\n The keeper had a nightmare 15 minutes. His poor kick-out handed Daizen Maeda the opener and he ended up limping off with a thigh issue.<\/p>\n Mark O\u2019Hara 6<\/p>\n The captain played as a wing-back. He gave his all. Always looked to take the ball and drive forward.<\/p>\n Alex Gogic 6<\/p>\n Was his usual no-nonsense self at the heart of the St Mirren defence. Gave everything but he and his team ran out of legs. Hard afternoon.<\/p>\n Miguel Freckleton 6<\/p>\n His pace was massive in terms of allowing St Mirren to play higher up the park. Hard to believe his team lost so many goals in the end.<\/p>\n Liam Donnelly 6<\/p>\n Normally a midfielder but needs must for the injury-hit Buddies. He didn\u2019t let his team down. Moved forward when his team went for a leveller.<\/p>\n Declan John 7<\/p>\n Excellent all day. The left-back produced the run and cross for Mandron\u2019s goal. Pushed forward and was a real weapon for St Mirren.<\/p>\n Allan Campbell 6<\/p>\n Has been given something of a revival under Craig McLeish. Certainly put in a shift and did a lot of running to close Celtic down. Booked.<\/p>\n Jacob Devaney 6<\/p>\n The on-loan Manchester United player was keen to show up well on this stage. Fought and scraped for his team. Didn’t offer much the other way.<\/p>\n Killian Phillips 6<\/p>\n Battled hard and offered a physicality for the Buddies. Had ball in the net but was ruled out for handball.<\/p>\n Mikael Mandron 7<\/p>\n Curtailed in the last final through illness. Was keen to play in this one. Made up for it with a deadly double. Exceptional display.<\/p>\n Jonah Ayunga 6<\/p>\n The big striker put a shift in and kept the Celtic defence occupied. Didn\u2019t really get the chance to play to his strengths. Subbed late on.<\/p>\n Subs:<\/p>\n Grant Tamosevicius (Mullen 15) Young lad was left in firing line 3.<\/p>\n Roland Idowu (Phillips 74) Offered trickery 1.<\/p>\n Jake Young (Ayunga 74) Great flick on for equaliser 2.<\/p>\n Jayden Richardson (Campbell 74) Offered pace up right 2.<\/p>\n Conor McMenamin (Donnelly 82) Never got involved 1.<\/p>\n Scott Tanser (John 106) Could do little 1.<\/p>\n Referee watch: Matthew McDermid. He is often criticised but handled the game well.<\/p>\n Man of the match: Kelechi Iheanancho. Changed the game with his two extra-time goals. The literal super sub shaded it from Mandron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin O’Neill’s men booked their spot in the Scottish Cup final with a 6-2 win over St Mirren…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[45742,2817,35119,218,55591,30905,8934,29529,101,186439,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-540630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-anthony-ralston","9":"tag-celtic-fc","10":"tag-daizen-maeda","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-kelechi-iheanacho","13":"tag-martin-oneill","14":"tag-premium","15":"tag-scottish-cup","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-st-mirren","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}