Celtic 6-2 St Mirren
Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup Semi-Final
Sunday, 19 April 2026
Barclays Hampden, Glasgow

Scorers

Celtic 6 (Daizen Maeda 1’, Anthony Ralston 45’+3, Iheanacho 96’ ET, 100’ ET, McCowan 98’ ET, Nygren 102’ ET)

St Mirren 2 (Mikael Mandron 53’, 90’ +1)

Team News

Celtic saw Liam Scales replaced by Benjamin Arthur, Arne Engels returned to the starting lineup in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Sebastian Tounekti came in for Tomáš Čvančara.

St Mirren, meanwhile, had their goalkeeper Shamal George replaced by Ryan Mullen following an injury.

This would be the first time Celtic faced St Mirren in the Scottish Cup at the National Stadium since 1984, when Brian McClair and Paul McStay sent the hoops to the final, although the pair had battled it out in the Premier Sports League Cup final earlier in the season, with the Buddies coming out on top of the clash, securing a huge win for the Paisley team.

Craig McLeish’s side would be looking to reach their seventh Scottish Cup final, while Martin O’Neill’s side had their eye on achieving their 43rd Scottish Cup trophy.

As It Happened

Within the first minute, Celtic showed signs of their form from previous seasons, as Celtic’s Daizen Maeda was able to pounce on a pass back from St Mirren’s Miguel Freckleton to Ryan Mullen, before charging down the clearance to bundle the ball into the net to give the Hoops an early lead.

Arne Engels, who had only recently returned to the Celtic team and was making his first start since his absence, was quick to highlight his presence with breaks from midfield and a curled shot that almost saw a second goal for the Parkhead side, kept out only by the post.

And while St Mirren were already facing concerns over the loss of Shamal George from the starting XI, they were then hit by the loss of Mullen, replaced early by 17-year-old Grant Tamosevicius, whose debut for St Mirren would be a Scottish Gas Men's Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic.

Tamosevicius soon saw his first test: Benjamin Nygren had slipped a swift ball into Maeda, whose strike had the young keeper making a confident save to stop Celtic from adding to their lead.

St Mirren weren’t without their own chances, however, as Jonah Ayunga broke on the counter and put Celtic’s defence under pressure with his shot blocked by Anthony Ralston, giving St Mirren the corner.

An unmarked Liam Donnelly almost secured the equaliser for St Mirren, diving forward with a pinpoint header that only the outstretched hand of Viljami Sinisalo was able to stop.

Killian Phillips almost had his own moment of glory from an Auston Trusty error, as the poor pass back to Celtic’s Sinisalo was nearly punished as the Finnish keeper’s clearance came off Phillips and left Sinisalo clambering back into his own net to stop a goal.

Celtic’s Hyun-Jun Yang then headed a terrific cross at the back post from Kieran Tierney that came close to adding to their early goal, but it came off the bar.

But Celtic saw their efforts bear fruit as Sebastian Tounekti broke into the box from the left wing and played the ball to Yang, whose backheeled pass was run onto by Anthony Ralston, who struck the ball and saw it skim the crossbar on its way into the back of the net to bring the first half to an end with Celtic two goals ahead.

The second half started with the same tempo as the first and it was St Mirren’s Mikael Mandron who would get on the scoresheet next, his header guiding a superb cross from Declan John into the back of Sinisalo’s net.

St Mirren found a second wind and Tierney had to be alert to make an outstanding headed clearance at the back post to prevent St Mirren equalising.

St Mirren’s Declan John continued to cause havoc down the left wing for much of the second half, keeping Anthony Ralston on his toes, and giving St Mirren that confidence boost to press for the equaliser that would take the tie to extra time.

It looked as if the goal would not come until the ball broke to Mandron again the last minute of normal time, and the big striker did superbly to latch onto Jake Young's ball and fire clinically past Sinasalo to force extra time. 

Although Celtic had a corner in the final minute of the game, Nygren saw his near-post cross headed away, and the final whistle would ring out to signal another thirty minutes of extra time to be played.

St Mirren’s Tamosevic found himself facing off against Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho, and with a perfectly timed tackle, the debutant neutralised the imminent danger.

Mandron, eager to secure a semi-final hat-trick, was almost able to get to a cross, but Celtic’s extra-time substitute Dane Murray was there to deny him.

And no sooner had that chance passed than it was Celtic’s turn, and they didn’t disappoint.

James Forrest, wearing the captain’s armband, broke past Declan John and played the ball inch-perfect to Kelechi Iheanacho, who was able to get ahead of Tamosevicius and nod the ball into the back of the net, giving Celtic the lead again.

Forrest then assisted Luke McCowan in scoring again, giving a two-goal cushion, when he played a ball that was deflected into the path of McCowan, who calmly turned it into the back of the St Mirren goal.

As Forrest had assisted McCowan, McCowan then assisted Iheanacho, who scored his second and Celtic’s third goal in the space of four minutes. McCowan played the ball to Iheanacho, who coolly curled it into the corner of St Mirren’s goal to make it five.

And Celtic made it six in a remarkable passage of play against the shellshocked Saints, as Benjamin Nygren came onto a Maeda cross to make it six. 

With the final whistle, Celtic secured their place in the Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup Final with their eye on a 43rd victory in the competition.

Celtic will face Dunfermline Athletic in the final, where Celtic manager Martin O’Neill will face his former Celtic player and former Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, as both clubs with links to the late Jock Stein will battle it out for the Scottish Cup.

Match Report by John Shiels

Teams

Celtic: Sinisalo, Trusty, Nygren, Yang (Iheanacho 82’), Tounekti (Forrest 61’), Engels (McCowan 73’), Maeda, McGregor © (Oxlade-Chamberlain 73’), Arthur (Murray 90’+1), Ralston, Tierney (Saracchi 82’)

Unused Substitutes: Dohan, Adamu, Hatate

St Mirren: Mullen (Tamosevicius 15’), Donnelly (McMenamin 82’), O’Hara ©, Devaney, Mandron, Ayunga (Young 74’), Gogic, Campbell (Richardson 74’), Freckleton, John, Philips (Idowu 74’)

Unused Substitutes: Tanser, Calvin, Etete, Douglas