Celtic blitz Aberdeen

Strikes from Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and a Kris Commons penalty within 18 minutes of the restart did the damage.

Shaun Maloney converted a late tap-in to complete the rout against an Aberdeen side who played over 70 minutes with a man fewer after Andrew Considine's early red card.

The defender was given his marching orders for a trip of Gary Hooper as the Celtic forward ran through on goal.

Although Jamie Langfield saved Anthony Stokes's resultant penalty, Celtic dominated thereafter and it was only a matter of time until they broke through.

Langfield made a succession of good stops from the frustrated Stokes, but was finally beaten four minutes into the second half.

Mulgrew curled in a free-kick left-footed from 40 yards and Stokes failed to make contact with his header - but the striker's presence froze Langfield who was helpless as the ball bounced untouched into the left-hand corner.

Aberdeen briefly thought they were level on 56 minutes when Chris Maguire put the ball in the net but saw his goal rightly chalked off for offside.

Within 60 seconds, Celtic had doubled their lead, as Stokes broke through down the left and squared for Ledley, who provided a scruffy but effective finish from 15 yards.

Stokes then won Celtic's penalty when Derek Young brought him down. Commons took over spot-kick duties and drilled the ball low into the right corner.

Substitute Maloney got in on the act late on, when he finished from close range, with Celtic looking able to score at will.

Neil Lennon's side have scored 21 goals in their five meetings with the Dons this season, and will return to Hampden to face Motherwell in next month's final.