No thoughts of Hampden revenge, it’s all about reaching another final

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The Celtic Star

·18 avril 2026

No thoughts of Hampden revenge, it’s all about reaching another final

No thoughts of revenge, all of Celtic’s focus tomorrow will be on reaching yet another Scottish Cup Final…

St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Sunday 20 April 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

At Hampden tomorrow afternoon we will get a break from one of the most dramatic title races in modern history as we take on St Mirren at Hampden, with a place in the Scottish Cup Final on Saturday 23 May the prize on offer for winning side. We’ll know today whether it’s Falkirk or Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline who will be the other finalists and our job is simple – to make sure that they’ll be playing Celtic.

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So there will be no putting our feet up, or lying on a beach for our players. Instead our Bhoys will be battling on the park in a bid to reach yet another cup final, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tony Ralston. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Of the three title challengers Celtic knocked the Rangers out of both the Premier Sports Cup and Scottish Cup this season, while Hearts lost in the early stages of the two cups to St Mirren and Falkirk. The Jambos never even qualified for European football this season and Celtic also reached the Europa League play-off, something the latest Ibrox club got nowhere near.

We’ve already tasted defeat to tomorrows opponents at the national stadium this term, back in December when we painfully lost out in the Premier Sports Cup final, after a disappointing performance seen us go down a whimper in a 3-1 defeat to a more determined and more worthy winner in the Paisley buddies.

Celtic frankly deserved what we got after deciding at Board level not to allow Martin O’Neill to remain in charge – he got us through to the final after all – in favour of throwing in their rookie appointment Wilfried Nancy to disastrous effect.

Callum Osmand celebrates. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Tomorrow’s Hampden rematch clash will be billed as some sort of revenge mission by the mainstream media from a Celtic point of view, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The Premier Sports cup final defeat happened during a very bleak period in the clubs modern history, led by a man in the dugout who was well out of his depth, a man who should never in a million years have been appointed as manager of Celtic Football Club, a guy who had zero experience of playing in a major final and was visiting Hampden for the first time ever.

The World Class in Everything We Do Boardroom Brigade certainly outdid themselves with that one and fair play to the Saints for taking full advantage.

Wilfried Nancy. Premier Sports Cup Final. 14 December 2025. St Mirren v Celtic. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Indeed I believed that Nancy should have been removed from his job in the wake of the Hampden defeat, such was my belief that he wasn’t the man for the job, a view that was fully justified a few weeks later when he was rightfully handed his jotters after a cup final defeat, dropping a DOZEN points and being responsible for one of Celtic’s most embarrassing performances at Celtic Park in European football.

Instead Celtic’s sole focus will be on winning a Scottish Cup semi final, and making sure we have another date at the national stadium for the cup final which takes place on the 23rd of May, which like the 2005 final, is likely to be Martin O’Neill’s last match as Celtic manager.

Martin O’Neill, Interim Manager of Celtic, reacts during the Premier Sports Cup Semi Final match between Celtic and theRangers at Hampden Park on November 02, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

So St Mirren fully deserved their win that bleak day back in December, and we could only congratulate them on a well earned success, so revenge will be the last thing on our mind tomorrow afternoon. We just want to win and reach the final, giving us a chance to win yet more silverware and hopefully completing a double

That’s the objective for Celtic tomorrow. Nothing else matters.

Watch Martin O’Neill’s pre-match media conference below…

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

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