Daizen Maeda leads Celtic slaughter job on St Johnstone and puts Rodgers on brink of another Treble – 5 talking points

It was a Sunday stroll in the sun for the Hoops are heading for another Treble after a Saints demolition job

Celtic’s treble charge remains firmly on course after Brendan Rodgers’s side put on a five-star show to slap sorry St Johnstone out of the Scottish Cup.

The Perth side did well to stand firm in the face of relentless pressure during a one-sided opening half hour.

But strikes from Callum McGregor, Adam Idah and a Daizen Maeda double had them quivering four down at the break.

Substitute Jota wrapped up a fifth to complete a miserable afternoon for Saints - and keep Rodgers’ swaggering Celts on course for yet another clean sweep.

It was one-way traffic for most of the opening stages but St Johnstone appeared to be growing in confidence.

However, when Barry Douglas failed to find Stephen Duke-McKenna with a ball out from the back, his team soon found themselves deep in trouble.

Callum McGregor finally found the break through as he stepped onto a pass from Reo Hatate to curl round the forest of legs.

The captain then the heat up again three minutes later as he charged forward. Sam Curtis dived in trying to cut his pass out but when the ball broke to Maeda, there was only one result.

And it was game over as the Hoops add two more in the seconds before the break as Idah tapped home from Hatate’s cross, with Maeda squeezing another low drive past Fisher after more good work from his countryman.

Makenzie Kirk nailed a screamer past Viljami Sinisalo nine minutes into second half only to see it ruled out by VAR, who also intervened to chalk off a Celtic penalty initially awarded when James Forrest went down at the feet of Daniels Balodis.

Celtic did add another, though, as Alistair Johnston picked out substitute Jota for the fifth. Here's five talking points from Hampden Park

Persistence pays for Celtic

The opening half hour must have left Brendan Rodgers wondering if he was about to see his side suffer one of the recent slip-ups that have left fans to accuse them of stumbling over the Premiership finish line.

The Hoops were dominant but hardly dazzling. Saints, on the other hand, were disciplined but not exactly brimming with ambition.

It took half an hour for the first groan of frustration to erupt from the huge Celtic support snaking round three quarters of the stadium after after Arne Engles misplaced a cut-back.

But within moments they were treated to an explosion of goals that had them roaring all the way to the end.

And fair play to Celtic for refusing to alter from their smothering game plan. It would have been easy to react to the jitters in the stand, especially with the green contingent filling 41000 seats.

Instead, they kept up probing and got their reward as Callum McGregor’s opener was quickly followed up by another Maeda.

Two down at half-time would have been bad enough for Simo Valakari but his team’s focus and collapsed and they were punished as Adam Idah and Maeda fired two more before the break.

The only mercy for the Perth men was that Celtic went easy after the break, adding only one more with Jota’s close-range finish.

Another final fling for Rodgers

The numbers behind the Celtic boss’ Scottish Cup story make for remarkable reading.

It’s now played 21 in the Scottish Cup, won 21.

His Hampden record is every bit as flawless with 14 straight victories at the National Stadium.

He’s lifted the Scottish Cup on the three previous occasions in which he was in charge of the Parkhead team on cup final day and can make that No4 when they face Aberdeen in the final on May 24.

The omens are certainly good for that clash. Who can forget Tom Rogic scoring at the same time as a bolt of lightening flashed over Mount Florida back in 2017 as the Northern Irishman’s side zapped the Dons to complete his first Invincible clean sweep?

Rodgers is now looking to make it a sixth Treble in nine years for the all-conquering east-end outfit.

Taxi for Idah

Last year’s last-minute goal-scoring hero found himself in the headlines this week after a viral video emerged allegedly showing him worse for wear in the back of a cab.

But Brendan Rodgers has stuck firmly by the Irishman, launching an impassioned defence again before kick-off.

"Adam in his time with me has been a fantastic professional,” he said. “I read the stories - he actually wasn't sick in the taxi but people add salt and pepper to things. He's trained well this week, he's ready to start and perform.”

And he certainly did turn up when Celtic needed him.

He had a big contribution in the Parkhead outfit’s second goal and was where they needed him to be for the third as he tapped home from Hatate’s pass.

Sorry Saints lose their way

The 2014 and 2021 Scottish Cup winners were hoping to achieve the rarest of things at Hampden - back-to-back wins over Celtic.

The Perth men hand’t managed that particular fear since 1998.

But there was no chance of lightening striking twice after this month’s McDiarmid win once they allowed Rodgers’ team in to to open the scoring.

They thought they’d weathered the storm with a brave show of resistance.

But instead they found themselves cowering from a blizzard of first-half goals once they let McGregor in 10 minutes before the break.

It was such a needless goal to give away too.

Simo Valakari would have been delighted with the way his team had reduced Celtic to shooting from distance.

But the hole the defending champions had been probing for finally appeared when Barry Douglas needlessly gave away possession playing out from the back.

From there it was a horror collapse. Valakari will just have to hope this morale-sapping defeat doesn’t cause irreparable damage to his squad’s confidence levels as they battle for Premiership survival.

Pyro pain in store for Perth men

Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell all found themselves in trouble with the SPFL earlier this year when their fans were found guilty of engaging in banned Pyrotechnic displays.

The warning seemed to get through to the Celtic support, who were for once flare free as they welcomed their side onto the field.

But it now remains to be seen if the SFA will take a similar firm line as their league counterparts after the St Johnstone support sparked up during the first half.

A flood of red flames emerged in the small Saints section early on, with several of the devices leaving scorch marks after being tossed onto the Hampden trackside.