And, ironically, they have Rory Hamill - on loan to Celtic from the Glens themselves - to thank after his two goals put the cup specialists to the sword in their own backyard.

Celtic moved in front after just seven minutes when a dreadful clearance by Glens 'keeper Michael Dougherty saw him fire the ball straight at Hamill's chest of whom it duly returned into the back of the net.

However the Glens levelled within five minutes through Gary Hamilton who unleashed a superbly struck free-kick from the edge of the area into the top left hand corner.

Remarkably Hamill restored Celtic's lead on 23 minutes when he got the final touch to a long Stephen Harbinson clearance which bounced over his opposite number Dougherty.

Glentoran came within a whisker of equalising again early in the second half when a 22-yard Kyle Neill free-kick came careering back off the crossbar but despite this they never really looked capable of cancelling out DC's lead.

Indeed, the best it got for the Glens was a timely intervention by Ciaran Donaghy which denied Darren Boyce late on followed by a Michael Halliday overhead kick.