Celtic 3 Dundee United 1
Henrik Larsson picked the perfect moment to break Charlie Nicholas' post war scoring record as his double in the Scottish Cup semi-final took hisseason's tally to 49 and took Celtic to within one match of a historic Treble.
The Swede had been one adrift of Nicholas' Scottish scoring milestone of 48 in season 1982/83 for three matches - but that did not matter asCeltic wrapped up the title and the Double.
Larsson again left his magic for Hampden Park and his brace effectively killed off rejuvenated Dundee United before substitute Jackie McNamaraapplied the finishing touch.
The scoreline flattered Celtic, but Derek Lilley gave manager Alex Smith some consolation as he watched his dream to become the first manager towin the trophy with three different teams disappear.
Chris Sutton and Larsson caused United problems throughout and were showing great movement up front from the first whistle, but United alsoshowed much promise on the break.
Space opened up for former Rangers midfielder Charlie Miller in the 10th minute, but his right-foot shot from 22 yards flew just over RobertDouglas' crossbar.
Celtic looked nervous at the back and in the 15th minute they breathed a sigh of relief when referee Hugh Dallas waved away United's claims for apenalty.
Stephen Thompson played the ball up to Lilley, but the frontman went down in the area under the challenge of Paul Lambert and they escaped.
That stirred the champions and Jim Lauchlan did well to head Alan Thompson's dangerous cross over with Sutton breathing down his neck.
Moments later and Lambert found Joos Valgaeren in the box, but the Belgian fired over the bar from a tight angle.
Sutton continued to cause the United defence all kinds of problems and it was the former Chelsea man who came closest to breaking the deadlockin the 27th minute.
Agathe teed the ball up for Larsson to deliver the perfect cross into the box and Sutton soared highest, but watched as his header rocketed backoff the upright.
But Celtic took the lead with a wonderful move that was finished off by Swedish star Larsson to equal Charlie Nicholas' post-war record of 48goals in all competitions.
But it was Sutton who made the goal as he refused to accept Johan Mjallby's ball down field was going out and Jason de Vos allowed him to swingover a cross for Larsson to get ahead of Lauchlan and bullet a diving header past Paul Gallacher.
That ended a barren run for Larsson of three matches without a goal, but he has a nack of saving them for the big occasions.
As expected United came out with all guns blazing after the break, but too often their final ball was letting them down.
The Tannadice outfit would become more desperate as the half wore on, but Lilley's over-exuberance cost him a booking in the 49th minute whenhe caught Lambert with an unnecessary late tackle.
As United pushed more men forward they were in grave danger of being caught on the break and so it almost proved in the 57th minute.
Larsson got on the end of Lubo Moravcik's long-range ball and he teased De Vos just inside the box before going inside and curling a superbleft-foot shot just around the post.
But United were not out of it yet and a blunder by Douglas almost granted them an equaliser.
The former Dundee keeper dropped Buchan's cross after Miller had sent him away down the left, but fortunately for Celtic no United player wasable to capitalise and Valgaeren cleared.
Despite winning the Double and remaining on course for the Treble the Celtic supporters seemed subdued, but that could only be a reflection ofjust how well their opponents had played.
O'Neill also tried to tighten up in midfield and brought Jackie McNamara on for Moravcik in the 68th minute.
United boss Smith was running out of ideas, and he opted to bring another striker on in the form of Jim Hamilton in the 74th minute for CraigEaston, and he almost grabbed the equaliser with his first touch.
Vega failed to cut out Thompson's throw-in, but the Swiss defender made amends by blocking Hamilton's shot from close-range to thwart United.
But United's dreams were killed off in the 78th minute and it was Larsson again who struck to break Nicolas' milestone.
Griffin tripped the Swede in the area, and Dallas had no option but to point to the spot. Larsson stepped up to blast straight down the centre ofgoal and past the diving Gallacher.
The day got even worse for United two minutes later when Celtic increased their lead further as Larsson found McNamara on the right and hedrilled the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.
United were down but not out as they responded with a deserved consolation in the 86th minute when Lilley nipped in ahead of Vega and Douglasto take Griffin's ball in his path before rolling it into the empty net.
That brought a smile from Smith, but there is no question who is the happiest of the managers tonight as Celtic boss Martin O'Neill stands on theverge of equalling the Treble feat of the late great Jock Stein.
Nobody would bet against them to beat Hibernian on May 26th - and with Henrik Larsson in the side who could blame them.
PA