Celtic v St Mirren: team news, referee details, KO time & where to watch | OneFootball

Celtic face St Mirren in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Semi Final at Hampden on Sunday. The Scottish Champions will be hoping to book their place in the Final before focus returns to the defence of their Premiership title with the run in on a knife-edge.

The teams go into the game knowing that they will face off against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline Athletic in the showpiece final next month. Martin O’Neill’s team were 1-0 winners against St Mirren when the sides met last Saturday but it was far from a complete performance, which will give hope to interim boss Craig McLeish. St Mirren supporters will remember only too fondly their last meeting at Hampden against Celtic in which they lifted the Premier Sports Cup after a 3-1 win over Wilfried Nancy’s side.

Legendary Celtic boss O’Neill would have been disappointed not to have been afforded the opportunity to go for silverware back in December with the Frenchman being handed the reins ahead of a crucial period of fixture congestion, which ended catastrophically for Celtic and partially accounts for the present mess. The Irishman helped Celtic to beat Rangers in the League Cup Semi, just as he did against the Ibrox side in the Quarter Finals in that memorable penalty shootout win.

Martin O’Neill. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

Team News

Celtic go into the game with a number of enforced absentees through injury as well as the suspended Liam Scales. Kasper Schmeichel, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and Julian Araujo are all long term absentees through injury. Callum Osmand and Alistair Johnston are believed to be stepping up their returns from injury but it is expected that this fixture has come too soon for them to be involved. Colby Donovan could return from the knock that ruled him out of the game last week. Arne Engels came on last weekend and is expected to play more of a role at Hampden.

The impressive Finnish stopper Vil Sinisalo will continue in goals.

Expect a backline of Kieran Tierney at left back with Tony Ralston at right back. Expect Benjamin Arthur to come in at centre back alongside Auston Trusty, although Dane Murray could very well come into the side to partner the USA Internationalist.

Callum McGregor is expected to captain the side with Reo Hatate coming into the side along with Benji Nygren. O’Neill will be cautious that St Mirren were comfortable in the midfield and will want to have more legs in the middle of the park, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain perhaps dropping out at the expense of Hatate. It may be a case that the manager thinks Engels can only manage a place on the bench at present.

In attack, Kelechi Iheanacho may get the start that he craves with his game time required to be managed, much like CalMac for the run-in. Daizen Maeda and Yang are expected to continue in the wide areas.

Seb Tounekti will be hopeful that he can get on the pitch after being an unused sub in the last two games. The Tunisian winger looks dangerous when he comes from the bench and he will be imperative to have fit and firing for run-in.

Arne Engels of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-0 lead. Celtic v Dundee United, l Scottish Premiership, Football, Celtic Park, 10 January 2026. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

Referee Details

Matthew MacDermid has been appointed by the SFA to take charge of the meeting. The 32-year-old will be assisted by Calum Spence and David Roome.

MacDermid last took charge of a Celtic game when they were beaten at home by David Gray’s Hibs. The referee missed a penalty for Celtic moments after using VAR to send off Auston Trusty, a decision that contributed to the late winner for the visitors.

Meanwhile, at Clydesdale House, Kevin Clancy is on VAR duties with Chris Graham assisting.

Kick Off Time

The game kicks off at 2pm (Celtic Park Time).

Where to Watch

The game will be shown on Premier Sports 1, with coverage kicking off at 1:30pm. Celtic TV subscribers outside Britain and Ireland will be able to catch all the action from Hampden while subscribers inside the region will be able to listen to audio commentary only.

One of the key talking points from Premier’s coverage at Saturday’s Cup Semi was the absence of Michael Stewart in the ground. The pundit was banned from Hampden by The SFA in a childish response to criticism from the ex-Hearts midfielder. However, he was involved, providing analysis from the car park.