Celtic today progressed to the final of the Scottish Cup with a 4-0 victory over a ten man Aberdeen at Hampden Park. The Hoops were given the ascendency when Dons defender Andrew Considine was sent off for his challenge on Gary Hooper in the box in the 18th minute, with referee William Collum pointing to the spot as well as brandishing the red card.
Luckily for Aberdeen, goalkeeper Jamie Langfield came up with a save from Anthony Stokes' spot kick but the rearguard action of Craig Brown's men did not last too long. Ex-Dons defender Charlie Mulgrew put his free-kick on target in the 49th minute and saw his attempt evade everyone in the box to go past Langfield and in at the far post to kickstart a happy second half for the Glasgow giants.
The second goal came less than 10 minutes later when Joe Ledley got onto the end of a pass from Stokes and fired home from 12 yards before it was 3-0 in the 63rd minute when Kris Commons sent Langfield the wrong way from the spot after Stokes had been brought down by Derek Young.
The match was already wrapped up but Neil Lennon's men pushed on and managed to get a fourth when skipper Scott Brown played an angled ball to the back post for Mark Wilson who cut it back across the face of goal for substitute Shaun Maloney to tap home into an open goal.
Celtic will now meet Motherwell, who defeated St Johnstone 3-0 yesterday, in the final at Hampden on May 21.
