Celtic will face Motherwell in next month’s Scottish Cup final after blitzing Aberdeen in the second half of Sunday’s semi-final.
Neil Lennon’s men ran out 4-0 winners at Hampden Park, with Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley, Kris Commons (with a penalty) and sub Shaun Maloney all netting.
Aberdeen had in fact started the game well, but the sending off of defender Andrew Considine left them climbing a mountain that became too steep once the teams changed sides.
Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper led the Celtic line, with the Irishman heading an instant chance wide before the Dons enjoyed a positive early period. Fraser Forster spilled a shot from Josh Magennis and Sone Aluko sent in a cross for Scott Vernon, but he could not keep his header down.
However, their early promise was crushed in the 18th minute when Scott Brown sent Hooper through in the Aberdeen area and Considine brought the former Scunthorpe United man down. Referee William Collum handed the Aberdeen man his marching orders and Celtic a penalty.
There was something of a reprieve for the men in red when Jamie Langfield dived right and kept out Stokes’s low spot-kick, the second time he has denied the striker in that situation this season. However, Craig Brown’s men still knew they now had a mammoth task in front of them.
The former Scotland boss had to change a few positions around to try and cope with the red card, with Celtic intent on making them pay as Stokes was again denied by Langfield and Ledley headed over.
A rare Dons chance saw Chris Maguire head straight at Bhoys keeper Forster from a Rob Milsom cross, but they were very much still alive in the competition as the sides headed in at half-time with the score still at 0-0.
That all changed just four minutes into the second period though. Milsom was penalised for a foul on Beram Kayal, giving Celtic a free some 45 yards out on the right. Mulgrew stepped up to hit it and watched on as nobody else got a touch on the ball’s way to the net. Stokes’s jump had perhaps deceived some of the Aberdeen defenders, but they were behind and had it had it all to do now.
Steven Smith then blocked a Stokes effort before Maguire latched onto a Magennis flick on and beat Forster to find the net. The offside flag was up though and two minutse later the contest was as good as done.
Celtic went right up the other end and got the ball to Stokes, whose low cross picked out Ledley as he bombarded into the area to sweep a fine finish to Langfield’s left and into the net.
And in case that was not the end of it, Celtic ensured progression six minutes later after Derek Young gave away a needless penalty when fouling Stokes, with the striker going nowhere. Commons took charge of penalty duties this time and he made no mistake as he smashed the ball beyond the despairing Dons goalkeeper.
The ex-Derby County man then should have made it 4-0, but blazed well over from another set-up by the industrious Stokes, that before Lennon threw on Maloney and Patrick McCourt as he looked to inflict further woe on a Dons side his men had now put 20 goals past for the season.
One of the subs, Maloney, would get the 21st with six minutes left, but not before a fine through ball for Hooper, which led to Langfield making a timely intervention.
He was soon beaten for the fourth and final time though, with his defence now at sixes and sevens. Stokes was again involved as he slipped in Brown on the left of the area. The skipper fed it right to Mark Wilson, who went for goal, but the ball deflected into the path of Maloney for a tap-in.
A domestic double remains alive for Celtic, with the Dons’ only target for the season now to finish as high as they can.