MARTIN O’NEILL and his Celtic players once again rode football’s version of The Big Dipper in a dramatic Scottish Cup semi-final against St Mirren at Hampden yesterday.
At the climax of another truly remarkable occasion, the Hoops had won 6-2 after a goal-laden first period of extra-time to earn a place against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline in the showpiece at he national stadium on Saturday May 23.
A second-half double from Mikael Mandron wiped out the Parkhead side’s 2-0 interval advantage following goals from Daizen Maeda and Anthony Ralston.
IN WITH A SHOUT…Martin O’Neill encourages his players.
The added-on half-hour took everyone’s breath away with Celtic thrashing in four goals in a devastating six-minute spell to exact sweet revenge on their Premier Sports League Cup conquerors back in the dark December days of the wretched Wilfried Nancy.
The black clouds were blown away yesterday in that spectacular scoring spree with Kelechi Iheanacho grabbing a duo with Luke McCowan and Benjamin Nygren, with his 20th strike of his debut campaign, adding the others.
A beaming O’Neill said: “It was a brilliant day and I couldn’t be more pleased with the team in many aspects.
“We can get it forward a wee bit more quickly at times, but, overall, for us to fight back – it was getting very close to a win in normal time, but St Mirren came roaring back and got a great goal, so we had to do it all over again.
“And the goal just a couple of minutes into extra-time helped us enormously. We got a surge of confidence after that and we went on to win convincingly.
“It was a tough afternoon, but there were some great goals, Kelechi Iheanacho coming on and doing brilliantly, Luke McCowan scoring as well, so I’m delighted.”
Singling out the impact made by Iheanacho, O’Neill, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “Everyone in the dressing-room knows that he has been a really good player.
THE GREEN PARTY…Celtic players celebrate Anthony Ralston’s strike to make it 2-0.
“He’s had a few injuries and he’s been trying to get that fitness, but a properly fit Iheanacho is definitely a handful as he’s proved again.”
The 74-year-old interim gaffer added: “We’ve ended up scoring six goals. Now I know that the game was 2-2 after 90 minutes, but at the end of it all we’ve got the capabilities and that’s the confidence coming back.
“This performance, particularly in extra-time when we scored four goals in relatively quick succession, has got to give us an enormous boost.”
The focus switches once more to the pursuit of Celtic’s fifth successive title when the champions face Falkirk in the east end of Glasgow on Saturday.
The Hoops have five games to play to make up and overtake Hearts who are three points ahead and scheduled to play at Parkhead at the conclusion of the championship race on Saturday May 16.
A win over John McGlynn’s outfit, beaten by Lenny’s Fifers on penalty-kicks in their semi on Saturday, is imperative for O’Neill’s men.
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