{"id":443481,"date":"2026-04-19T18:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/443481\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:19:16","slug":"celtic-explode-in-scottish-cup-extra-time-as-oneill-sees-goal-crazy-hoops-keep-double-dream-alive-5-talking-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/443481\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic explode in Scottish Cup extra time as O’Neill sees goal crazy Hoops keep double dream alive \u2013 5 talking points"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Mirren came from two goals down to force an extra 30 minutes before Celtic ran riot<\/p>\n

16:47, 19 Apr 2026Updated 16:48, 19 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho celebrates after scoring in extra-time<\/p>\n

St Mirren ended up with a teenage keeper who\u2019d only just ditched his L plates.<\/p>\n

But it was Celtic who managed to survive the rocky return road to Hampden.<\/p>\n

Martin O\u2019Neill is set for a Scottish Cup Final finale \u2013 against his former favourite Neil Lennon\u2019s Dunfermline.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t fall for the eventual scoreline \u2013 this was far from a smooth journey.<\/p>\n

The final result was brutal on the brave Buddies<\/a> who fought back from two goals down to send the clash into extra time and then ended up winning 6-2.<\/p>\n

Celtic<\/a> were blowing a gasket by that stage but put the foot down with an incredible first period blitz put them out of sight.<\/p>\n

Craig McLeish\u2019s 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 \u2013 who only recently secured his driving license.<\/p>\n

The kid passed this test with flying colours but his side agonisingly collapsed after battling back at the National Stadium.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Celtic’s Anthony Ralston celebrates scoring to make it 2-0<\/p>\n

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 <\/a>and Benjamin Nygren also finding the net in a stunning extra time explosion to keep O\u2019Neill on track for more silverware.<\/p>\n

It was cruel on a Saints side whose gameplan went off road within a minute after Mullen suffered his nightmare.<\/p>\n

The stand-in keeper should have been wary of Maeda lurking and stuck his foot through the ball.<\/p>\n

Instead the Japanese pressing machine charged him down and Mullen was fishing the ball out the back of his net.<\/p>\n

Celts survived a couple of scares \u2013 but Ralston raced on to Yang\u2019s back heel and blasted a screamer in off the bar with the last kick of the half.<\/p>\n

Saints were stung but roared out in the second period to deservedly strike back after 53 minutes when Mandron barged through Kieran Tierney <\/a>to batter his header in the bottom corner.<\/p>\n

The Buddies kept the foot on the gas and finally broke through as the clock hit 90 when Mandron raced on to Jake Young\u2019s flick to drill past Sinisalo.<\/p>\n

Celtic were blowing a gasket \u2013 but the clash took another wild turn with an extra time blitz.<\/p>\n

Iheanacho turned it around when he deftly steered in James Forrest\u2019s cracking cross and moments later when McCowan kept his cool to tuck away the fourth.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Here’s five talking points from a Hampden epic:<\/p>\n

FAIRTALE FINAL<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly not all gone to script for O\u2019Neill on his remarkable return this season but a Hampden showpiece in May is looking like a heck of a way to bow out.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Neil Lennon<\/p>\n

And the fact he\u2019ll be up against his former favourite Neil Lennon\u2019s Dunfermline only adds to the blockbuster appeal in a year that\u2019s been far stranger than fiction.<\/p>\n

TOMBOLA TRUMPS<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill will have plenty of time to worry about a line-up for the Final \u2013 but no one will guess it anyway.<\/p>\n

Record Sport\u2019s Chris Sutton called It the tombola and once again the Hoops\u2019 gaffer\u2019s team sheet was full of surprises.<\/p>\n

Tomas Cvancara was binned completely, Sebastian Tounetki came back from nowhere while Arne Engels returned to the starting XI.<\/p>\n

It worked at times \u2013 but not enough.<\/p>\n

Celts looked shaky, slack in possession and lacking any real cohesion or control.<\/p>\n

The introduction of Iheanacho made a major difference but with the frontman unable to play 90 minutes, the tombola will keep spinning.<\/p>\n

HAPPY DAIZ<\/p>\n

Celtic\u2019s 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\u2019t hit a barn door this time around and struggled again here.<\/p>\n

Iheanacho showed what a marksman can do and O\u2019Neill has to hope Maeda\u2019s goal can spark a return to form.<\/p>\n

KID\u2019S A KEEPER<\/p>\n

It was already a blow losing Shamal George between the sticks \u2013 but it was only the start of Saints’ goalie nightmares.<\/p>\n

Stand-in Ryan Mullen endured a miserable 14 minutes, gifting Celtic an opener inside 60 seconds and then suffering a thigh injury soon after.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

St Mirren substitute goalkeeper Grant Tamosevicius speaks to Jamie Langfield as he prepares to come on <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Buddies refused to allow the keeper strife to hinder them and Tamosevicius did himself proud and didn\u2019t deserve to ship six.<\/p>\n

SAINTS IN A SCRAP<\/p>\n

The dream cup double might be over for Saints but there\u2019s still a heck of a lot to fight for this season.<\/p>\n

Lifting the League Cup back in December won\u2019t be forgotten for a lifetime, but the Buddies don\u2019t want to take any shine off the campaign by getting dragged into relegation bother.<\/p>\n

On recent displays they won\u2019t need to worry. There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

More of this and Saints should have enough to avoid any play-off stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Mirren came from two goals down to force an extra 30 minutes before Celtic ran riot 16:47,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[196099,16506,1187,18,196100,19,17,196102,45179,169962,92428,172750,132,196101],"class_list":["post-443481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-anthony-ralston","tag-benjamin-nygren","tag-celtic-fc","tag-eire","tag-hampden-park","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-james-forrest","tag-kelechi-iheanacho","tag-luke-mccowan","tag-martin-oneill","tag-scottish-cup","tag-sports","tag-st-mirren-fc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116432756260923356","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}