IF things had turned out differently, Tom Rogic might have been enjoying the sunshine in Qatar right now and counting his Riyals instead of shivering at a rain and windswept Hampden. The Celtic support will be glad he stayed put though as the Wizard of Oz showed he had lost none of his magic to leave Aberdeen spellbound.

Rogic simply ran the show in the opening 45 minutes at the national stadium as Celtic swept into the Scottish Cup Final, claiming assists for both of Celtic’s first-half goals, the first of which was a long-range beauty from Ryan Christie and the second of which he laid on a plate for Moi Elyounoussi to tuck home from less than a yard.

It was last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final, of course, so it seemed fitting that last season’s Celtic turned up. Neil Lennon’s men found a zip to their play and a tempo that has been missing for the vast majority of this campaign to date, and Aberdeen couldn’t live with it.

It may have been Celtic’s first win in five games, but it was their 35th straight domestic cup victory, leaving them on the brink of their 12th consecutive trophy and a fourth straight Treble. It was also the fifth time they have beaten Aberdeen at Hampden during that run.

The intrigue when the teamsheets landed lay in the forward areas for both sides, with Odsonne Edouard making his first start for Celtic since testing positive for Coronavirus, and Sam Cosgrove making his first start of the season for Aberdeen after his wrecking ball of a performance from the bench in last weekend’s dress rehearsal at Pittodrie.

It was Cosgrove who showed first, with Matty Kennedy getting down the left and hanging a ball up in the opening seconds that the Aberdeen striker headed wide. The same combination then almost paid dividends once more, with Kennedy’s ball to the back post finding Cosgrove who was denied this time by a Nir Bitton block.

Edouard hit back, and he really should have drew first blood with his first opportunity. Celtic were trying to pick their way through the centre of the Aberdeen defence, and a reverse pass from Christie did the trick to put Edouard in on Joe Lewis. The Dons keeper spread himself well though and managed to block clear.

When the opener came after 18 minutes though, there was nothing that Lewis or any other keeper could have done about it. Though the Aberdeen defence might have been able to had they been bothered.

Celtic worked the ball out to the right, allowing Rogic to play Christie inside as he drifted off the wing. Kennedy didn’t bother going with him, giving Christie all the time in the world to get his head up and produce a peach of a curling finish into Lewis’s top right-hand corner from 25 yards.

It was a brilliant piece of individual play, but if you are going to give a player of such talent time and space, you are going to be punished.

It would get worse for Aberdeen, and fast. Just five minutes after the opener, Celtic’s slick passing opened them up once again. This time the danger came from the left flank, but again Rogic was central to it.

Edouard fed the Australian out wide, and his looping cross dipped over the despairing Lewis to drop to the back post area, where Elyounoussi simply wanted it more than Andy Considine to sidefoot home from under the bar.

Aberdeen needed a quick response after the interval and they almost got it as Scott Wright robbed Bitton and cut back for Cosgrove, but the striker sclaffed his shot and Scott Bain gratefully scooped up the ball.

Celtic seemed to tire around the hour after their energy-sapping night in Lille on Thursday, and Derek McInnes responded by sending on the fresh legs of Greg Leigh and Connor McLennan with Cosgrove’s race run.

It almost paid off immediately as a a McLennan cross sparked a stramash in the Celtic area, but Neil Lennon’s men showed they were willing to put their bodies on the line to defend their goal and their two-goal cushion.

Quite why the Celtic manager was waiting to give a few of his men a breather only he knows with a few visibly wilting, but eventually there was a triple change with a little under 20 minutes remaining, as Leigh Griffiths, Albian Ajeti and Hatem Elhamed came on to relieve Edouard, Christie and Elyounoussi, with Celtic moving to a 3-5-2.

Lewis Ferguson fired over before Jeremie Frimpong blocked brilliantly from Kennedy though as Aberdeen tried to set up a rousing finale.

As it was, there should have been a rousing reception as Rogic took his leave for Olivier Ntcham with six minutes to go, but he can be left in no doubt that it was his contribution that did the trick for Celtic.