Celtic hit five past St Johnstone to cruise into Scottish Cup final

Amy Canavan
BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden

Ruthless Celtic scored four goals in 12 stunning first-half minutes against St Johnstone to set up a Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen and remain on course for a record-extending ninth domestic treble.

Brendan Rodgers, whose own unbeaten Hampden run extends to 14 games, will bring his side back to the national stadium on Saturday, 24 May - live on the BBC - in search of a third consecutive Scottish Cup.

Celtic fans could confirm that date in the diary by half-time as they were already home and hosed following an utterly rampant finish to the first half.

Having penned St Johnstone into their own final third since the first peep of the whistle, the holders found their deserved breakthrough via captain Callum McGregor's peach of a placed strike.

From there, it was an onslaught.

The goalscorer turned provider, threading through a perfectly-weighted pass for the onrushing Daizen Maeda. It shouldn't have reached him, but the sliding Sam Curtis skewed his interception, allowing the Japan international to slot in.

Adam Idah tapped in the third a minute before the break, with Maeda rounding off a menacing press with his 33rd goal of the season 90 seconds later.

Four goals in 12 minutes as St Johnstone went from dreaming to destroyed.

Simo Valakari's side, who defeated Celtic in the league two weeks ago, would have been forgiven for wanting to hide in the changing room or head back up the road.

Instead, they were forced to suffer through a scarring second half, where Rodgers inflicted further pain by bringing on the likes of Nicolas Kuhn and Jota.

The latter squeezed in a fifth from the acutest of angles moments after an on-field penalty award for James Forrest was overturned by VAR.

That was the second time referee Calum Scott was called to the monitor after the break, after Mackenzie Kirk's spectacular finish at 4-0 was reviewed, then disallowed, on a day that everything that could go against St Johnstone did.

Frightening Celtic on course for treble

Full-back Alistair Johnston said last week the defeat in Perth was a well-needed wake-up call for Celtic. Well, they were alive and kicking here.

When in such a frightening mood, no one can lay a glove on them domestically.

The speed they hit it, the ferocity they pounced with, and the intent they showed were all of the highest of level. It really was a matter of how many they wanted.

Maeda and Forrest ran riot down the flanks and there was a scarcely believable amount of space for the midfielders to work their magic.

To be able to bring on Kuhn, Jota, Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo with the game long done and dusted, is a luxury every team in the land must envy.

Rodgers' remarkable record at Hampden was never in doubt of being spoiled, and should his side turn up in similar fashion next month against Aberdeen, you'd expect it would remain intact then, too.

Yet another domestic treble appears only a matter of 90 minutes or so away. Doing so at such apparent ease is quite the indication of their superiority.

Outclassed, overwhelmed and punished

Since that potentially priceless league win at McDiarmid Park earlier this month, many feared for St Johnstone in this semi-final. Valakari's side had poked the bear.

Though they expected Celtic to be fuelled by revenge, they couldn't have prepared for the utter shellacking they suffered.

To put it simply, St Johnstone were outclassed and punished for any mistake they made on the few occasions they were in possession.

There will be moments in which Valakari and his players will have wanted to do better – intercepting the second and building out from the back better for the fourth – but all told, they were overwhelmed.

Though shipping five is far from ideal, there were genuine fears at half time that the scoreline could have read much worse for a side who have five games left to try and save their Premiership status.

What they said

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "I'm very impressed. Once we got the opening goal, we go on and produce a brilliant performance.

"Today was about getting into the final and the players did that with a great performance. Our concentration level was very high, scored five and could have had one or two others.

"Five league games [left] and we want to finish as well as we can. It's been a long season, the players have put in so much work - it's been phenomenal."

St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari: "That's what Celtic can do to any team; they are relentless. No excuses, we didn't do enough good things to get anything.

"We can't give silly goals away, because we don't have the time or points to do it. That's what we are working on.

"I'm proud of my players, of course it wasn't what we wanted but that was our 2025 cup journey."

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