The story so far – Celtic’s Scottish Cup semi-finals against the Rangers

Celtic’s Scottish Cup Semi Finals v the Rangers…

The celebrations after the 2017 Scottish Cup semi-final win over theRangers

* 1892 Celtic 5 Rangers 3 – Old Celtic Park
* 1900 Celtic 4 Rangers 0 – Celtic Park, after 2-2 draw at Ibrox
* 1905 Celtic 0 Rangers 2 – Celtic Park
* 1925 Celtic 5 Rangers 0 – Hampden
* 1960 Celtic 1 Rangers 4, after 1-1 draw both – Hampden
* 1992 Celtic 0 Rangers 1 – Hampden
* 1996 Celtic 1 Rangers 2 – Hampden
* 1998 Celtic 1 Rangers 2 – Played at “neutral” Celtic Park because Hampden was being renovated


* 2016 Celtic 2 theRangers 2 (theRangers won 5-4 on penalties) 
* 2017 Celtic 2 theRangers 0 
* 2018 Celtic 4 theRangers 0 

All three games against theRangers in Scottish Cup semi-finals have been played at Hampden.

Please note: While I am aware of our readers’ sensitivities on this issue, I shall, for ease of reference use the term “Rangers” throughout. But by all means, talk about Newco, theRangers, if you must!  – David Potter

Dundee Evening Post 12th March 1900

It is remarkable how seldom Celtic and Rangers have met in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. Eleven times since 1874 is not a huge number, given how successful the two clubs have been.

There have been many years of course in which one of other of them has failed to reach that stage. Rangers in particular fell out of love with the Scottish Cup between 1903 and 1928, and between 1981 and 1992, and Celtic, although more successful than Rangers in the Scottish Cup over the years (40 wins as distinct from 33) have nevertheless had more than a few shockers at early stages – Arthurlie 1897, Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2000 and Clyde in 2006 spring to mind.

1925…Celtic 5 Rangers 0

In addition, there was always the perception that if Celtic and Rangers were both in the semi-finals, they would be kept apart for the final. Such allegations are difficult to prove, but it has been noticeable that since the draw has been done openly on television, the two of them have been paired more often at the semi-final stage than previously!

Incidentally, on the 14 times that they have reached the final together, the score is 7-7 – us in 1899, 1904, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1980, 1989 and them in 1894, 1928, 1963, 1966, 1973, 1999 and 2002.

Scotty Sinclair makes it 2-0 to Celtic in the 2017 Scottish Cup semi-final…

The Ibrox clubs are winning 6-5 in semis at the moment, but part of that is due to the 1990s, an era in which Rangers’ integrity must always be questioned by any chronicler of Scottish football history, and in any case, they were all narrow, odd goal affairs with that rainy night on 1992 a particular pain to recall.

No less painful is of course 2016 when missed chances during the 120 minutes and then the agony of a penalty shoot-out blew time on the reign of Ronny Deila. And those of us who seem to think that adverse refereeing decisions are a new phenomenon should recall 1905 when the great Jimmy Quinn was sent off even when the honest Rangers defender Alec Craig pleaded on his behalf!

There are happier semi-finals as well. 1925 saw the mesmeric Patsy Gallacher at his best, as Celtic delivered a 5-0 thrashing to Rangers with 2 goals from Jimmy McGrory, 2 from Adam McLean and one from Alec Thomson. It was a triumph that was as comprehensive as it was unexpected in front of the first six-figure crowd for a game in Scotland other than the Scotland v England international.

This triumph was much sung about for the next 40 years, and showed that the “Hello, Hello” motif was not the sole prerogative of Rangers

                “Hello, hello, we are the Timalloys

                Hello, hello, you’ll know us by the noise

                We beat the Rangers in the Cup, ‘twas great to be alive

                Not one, not two, not three, not four but five!

And of course, following the famous event of October 1957, Celtic fans were not slow to add on “and six” and “and seven”.

And then of course we go back to the days of Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell for the triumphs of 1892 and 1900, and in more recent years, in 2017 Callum McGregor and Scott Sinclair (with a penalty) did the business, then in 2018, Tommy Rogic, Callum McGregor and two penalties awarded by the ever generous Bobby Madden and sunk by Moussa Dembele and Olivier Ntcham saw Celtic home by 4-0.

Celtic Fans at the semi-final in 2018

That was the day when the early bath got a bit crowded in the Rangers dressing room, for Andy Halliday was hooked by Manager Murty before half time, and Ross McCrorie was invited to join him by Bobby Madden soon after.

It is a fact that on each of the five occasions that we beat Rangers in the semi-final, we went on to win the Scottish Cup, beating Queen’s Park in 1892, and then again in 1900, Dundee in 1925, Aberdeen in 2017 and Motherwell in 2018.

David Potter

David Potter’s new book, Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style is out soon on Celtic Star Books and is available to pre-order now…

Willie Fernie - Putting on the Style

About Author

David was a distinguished Celtic author and historian and writer for The Celtic Star. He lived in Kirkcaldy and followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. He was a retired teacher and his other interests were cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns. David Potter passed away on 29 July 2023 after a short illness. He was posthumously awarded a Special Recognition award by Celtic FC at the club's Player of the Year awards in May 2024. David's widow Rosemary accepted the award to huge applause from the Celtic Supporters in the Hydro.

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