Hearts - 2 Celtic - 1 Martin O'Neill has urged Celtic fans to keep the faith despite a shattering defeat at Hearts that could have ended their hopes of a third straight league title.

Austin McCann smashed in a last-minute winner off the bar to give Hearts a 2-1 victory at Tynecastle on Saturday that leaves Celtic eight points adrift of Rangers with only one game in hand and time fast running out.

The defeat rounded off a perfect day for Rangers, who earlier booked their place in the Scottish Cup final with a 4-3 win over Motherwell and are looking set for a domestic treble.

O'Neill's side travel to Portugal on Thursday for the second leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final after a 1-1 draw with Boavista in the first match at Parkhead.

"The lads are understandably disappointed in the dressing-room and I'm sure the fans feel the same," O'Neill said.

"But we've a semi-final and we know what we have to do. We've to score for a start and win the game. We've done it before and I hope by the time Monday comes we will have got ourselves in the right frame of mind and be determined for the remaining games.

"After beating Stuttgart we had an exceptionally difficult game against Liverpool and we have proved that we are capable of doing it.

"It's naturally going to be a hard game in midweek, and in the league I wouldn't write us off just yet."

Dundee succeeded in booking their first Scottish Cup final appearance since 1964 when they overcame Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1-0 yesterday.

HEARTS: Moilanen, Maybury, Pressley, Webster, McCann, MacFarlane (Boyack 82), Stamp, Severin, Valois (Kirk 89), Weir (Wales 83), de Vries. Subs Not Used: McKenzie, McKenna. Booked: Stamp, Valois, Boyack. Goals: Stamp 73, McCann 90.

CELTIC: Douglas, Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren, Agathe, Lennon, Petrov (Smith 79), Lambert (Maloney 83), Thompson, Larsson, Hartson. Subs Not Used: Broto, McNamara, Kennedy. Booked: Thompson. Goals: Larsson 59.

Referee: J Rowbotham (Scotland).