IT is a shame the aftermath of this extraordinary cup tie centred on a single refereeing decision, albeit an appalling one, that cruelly denied Celtic victory and the opportunity to complete the fourth clean sweep of domestic trophies in their history.

 

For Inverness Caledonian Thistle, an outfit formed after the amalgamation of two Highland League clubs little over 20 years ago, were exceptional as they booked a place in the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time.

John Hughes's energetic and skilful side produced some superb passing football at Hampden and pulled off a huge upset in what was an excellent advert for the game ¬¬- if not the standard of officiating - in this country.

If the third-placed team in the SPFL Premiership can scale the same sort of heights against their fifth-placed Championship rivals Falkirk when they return to Hampden on May 30 they should prevail.

Yet, the romance of their remarkable achievement was, while celebrated heartily by several thousand of their disbelieving and emotional travelling supporters, largely overlooked due to a controversial incident shortly before half-time.

Referee Steven McLean, assistant referee Frank Connor and additional assistant referee Alan Muir somehow all failed to spot a blatant handball by Inverness centre half Josh Meekings on his own goal line. If they had - as they should have - the final outcome would have been quite different.

There will be no fairytale Treble for Ronny Deila in his first season as Celtic manager. That in itself is painful for everyone associated with the Parkhead club. But the manner which they were denied it rightly rankled.

Celtic had been untroubled in the opening exhcanges of the semi-final and the first goal in the 18th minute was very much with the run of play. Gary Warren hauled down James Forrest as the winger bore down on his goal and gave away a free-kick.

The Englishman received a yellow card for his careless indiscretion and, having previously been booked in the competition this season, will miss the final next month. The defender will be a huge loss to Inverness.

His rival centre half Virgil Van Dijk stepped up to take the set piece and curled a sublime attempt over the defensive wall, beyond the clutches of the outstretched Ryan Esson and into the net off the inside of the left post.

Esson, who was only handed a start due to first choice keeper Dean Brill dislocating his knee in the 1-1 draw against Celtic at home eight days earlier, single-handedly prevented his side falling further behind. He produced fine saves from Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons before half-time.

He also denied Stefan Johansen from close range before the game's major talking point. The ball spun out to Griffiths from his instinctive block and the striker met it with a deft header that was destined for the net.

Meeking's right arm was not only in an unnatural position, it moved sharply towards the ball immediately after his opponent had made contact. It was quite clearly a deliberate attempt to deny him.

The Celtic players were furious he was not punished and remonstrated with the match officials. Understandably so. If Griffiths had scored or a penalty had been awarded which they netted the scoreline would have been 2-0 at half-time.

Not only that, Meekings would also have been sent off. There would have been no prospect, none whatsoever, of an Inverness side reduced to 10 men and trailing by two goals staging a recovery.

Matters did not improve for Celtic in the second half - due to the referee correctly awarding their adversaries a penalty kick and sending off their goalkeeper Craig Gordon in the process.

Ryan Christie sent his team mate Marley Watkins through on goal with a beautifully weighted upfield pass in the 54th minute.

Adam Matthews appeared to have dispossessed Watkins with a well-timed tackle. However, he did not make quite enough contact with the ball and Gordon needed to advance off his line to avert the danger.

The Scotland internationalist - who had, aside from plucking a couple of speculative high balls out of the air, hardly been involved prior to that incident - collided with the forward. McLean was correct to brandish his red card.

Several minutes elapsed before the spot kick could be taken as Forrest was sacrificed for Lukasz Zaluska. But Greg Tansey made no mistake despite the prolonged delay in proceedings. He coolly placed the ball in the bottom right corner.

The dramatic turn of events energised the Highlanders. They hogged possession and were untroubled defensively after that and could have won in regulation time if they had displayed greater conviction in front of goal.

Ofere, though, was clinical in the sixth minute of extra-time. Warren supplied him with the ball once again after an excellent cross by Graeme Shinnie from wide on the left side. He drilled a low right foot shot beyond Zaluksa.

John Guidetti replaced Griffiths and equalised in bizarre circumstances in the 103rd minute. His free-kick from 30 yards out cleared the wall comfortably. But it should really have been collected comfortably by Esson. The keeper misjudged the ball's flight and was distraught as it came to rest in his net.

Nobody would have been more relieved when right back David Raven charged forward with just three minutes remaining and prodded a Shinnie cut back into the empty Celtic net from an acute angle.