CELTIC manager Martin O'Neill has said Celtic are 'not good enough' to be dreaming of a place in the Scottish Cup Final ahead of today's last-four clash with St Mirren.
The Hoops are favourites with the bookies to progress to the final to play second-tier Dunfermline, who defeated Premiership side Falkirk on penalties on Saturday in the other semi-final.
However, a difficult season has shown Celtic can take nothing for granted, particularly against the Buddies.
The Paisley side deservedly beat Celtic 3-1 in the League Cup Final back in November in a game many would have anticipated as a formality for the Hoops.
They have also limited Celtic to frustrating 1-0 wins in the league, two of those coming in the final minutes and the third settled by an early Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goal just last week.
Outwith the Buddies, Celtic have lost eight league games this season, the most in a campaign since they lost nine in the 1999/2000 season, and were embarrassingly dumped out of the Champions League qualifiers by Kazakh side Kairat Almaty.
While O'Neill has brought stability and delivered results across both his interim spells in charge this campaign, Celtic have at times looked unconvincing as they cling on in the race for silverware.
As such, O'Neill wasn't allowing himself to envision a return to the Scottish Cup Final, having won the trophy 21 years ago in the last game of his first spell in charge of Celtic.
"I don't think we are good enough to dream that far down the line," said O'Neill, who won the trophy with Celtic in 2001, 2004 and 2005.
"I'm looking forward to it [the semi-final], I really am," he said.
"I thought that the last time I was there [at Hampden] would have been the last time but I've got the opportunity for a semi-final and I'm really looking forward to it."
However, he added: "I think St Mirren will obviously take great confidence from the fact that, one, they played very well last week against us and two, the last time we played each other at Hampden, they won the cup."
Hampden return
That game came at the end of the first week of Wilfried Nancy's inauspicious spell in charge, having overseen costly defeats in the league and Europe in the days before the Hamden humbling.
Celtic can take confidence from the fact that not only has O'Neill steadied the ship since then but he also masterminded their progress to that meeting with St Mirren.
The Derry native took temporary control following Brendan Rodgers' exit and oversaw a 3-1 extra-time win against Rangers in the semi-final during his successful interim spell.
Since replacing Nancy, he has overseen Celtic's successful Scottish Cup run, including a penalty shootout win over Rangers at Ibrox in the quarter-final, as well as keeping the Hoops in touch in the league.
Many Celtic fans felt O'Neill should have been in the dugout instead of Nancy for the League Cup Final, given the Frenchman was faced with three pivotal games in his opening three matches.
As it is, O'Neill now has the chance to take charge of Celtic in a final this season in what is the club's best chance of silverware, given they trail Hearts and Rangers in the league with five games left.
If O'Neill is to make the final, he must do so without suspended Irishman Liam Scales, while the manager revealed the game has come too soon for recovering pair Alistair Johnston and Callum Osmand.
Should Celtic make it to the decider on May 23, it would pit O'Neill against his former Celtic captain, Neil Lennon.
The former midfielder, who won 11 trophies as a player with Celtic, including seven under O'Neill, saw his Dunfermline side beat Falkirk on Saturday.
The Pars also knocked old holders Aberdeen in the quarter-final and defeated Premiership side Hibernian, previously managed by Lennon, in the fourth round.
Quizzed on a potential meeting with Lennon, O'Neill quipped: "I would love it, I would really love it. I'd like to put him in his place!
"It's not actually true, I've got the utmost regard for him, he's been brilliant.
"I think I've said it before, had I not signed him from Leicester [in 2000], I might not be sitting here with you lads today."
Celtic face St Mirren at Hampden Park in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup this afternoon, with kick-off at 2pm.
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