Jim McIntyre fired Dunfermline into the Tennent's Scottish Cup final with a dramatic late penalty over Hibernian at Hampden Park tonight.

The first tie between the two clubs had ended goalless and the replay looked certain to be decided by extra-time and penalties.

But McIntyre kept his cool to fire home from 12 yards with just three minutes to go to clinch a meeting with Scottish champions Celtic at the national stadium next month.

The dramatic victory also sees the Bank of Scotland Premier League's bottom side claim a UEFA Cup spot for next season, even though their top-flight status remains in doubt.

A steady downpour all day had eased by kick-off but the semi-final replay was still in danger of being a complete wash-out.

Only 5,000 tickets had been sold by yesterday and even the decision to allow fans to pay at the gate only managed to swell the crowd to 8,536.

But to be fair to both teams, they did their best to put on a show for the supporters who did make the journey through to Glasgow.

Hibs manager John Collins demonstrated how seriously he was taking the replay when he made no fewer than seven changes from the side which drew with Aberdeen in the SPL on Saturday.

He named a far more familiar side for the semi-final tie, with Steven Whittaker, David Murphy, Scott Brown, Rob Jones, Guillaume Beuzelin, Ivan Sproule and Abdessalam Benjelloun all drafted back into the top team.

Youth was sacrificed for experience and out went Shelton Martis, Dermot McCaffrey, Kevin McCann, Dean Shiels, Sean Lynch, Ross Chisholm and Merouane Zemmama.

Dunfermline, whose top priority remains SPL survival, made three changes from the side who defeated Dundee United, all of them enforced.

Scott Wilson was suspended and Tam McManus and Stephen Glass were both cup-tied, paving the way for Darren Young, Phil McGuire and Adam Hammill.

Hibs were out of the traps quickly when Benjelloun tried his luck in the opening seconds of the game.

He unleashed a well-struck drive from 25 yards but Dunfermline goalkeeper Dorus De Vries was up to the task and comfortably smothered the ball.

The Edinburgh side then had another opportunity to put the Pars under pressure when Gary Mason hauled down Whittaker just outside the box.

Murphy's resultant free-kick was cleared from the packed goalmouth and fell kindly to the feet of Beuzelin but he screwed wide from distance.

Dunfermline's chances were few and far between in the opening stages but Hibs goalkeeper Andrew McNeil was called into action when he just managed to touch a Hammill effort past the post.

Hibs were then forced into last-gasp defending when McNeil blocked McIntyre's point-blank header, before Lewis Stevenson cleared McGuire's rebound from six yards off the line.

If Stevenson's goal-line clearance had been good, the one from Greg Shields at the other end was nothing short of sublime.

Brown embarked on a superb mazy run that took him into the box before chipping over De Vries and Hibs fans had already began celebrating when Shields appeared from nowhere to hook the ball to safety.

Stevenson then called De Vries into action with an opportunistic long-range effort that the Pars goalkeeper only managed to tip over at full stretch.

Hibs ended the half with another couple of decent chances - Benjelloun firing over and Whittaker's effort falling just wide of target - but the tie remained goalless at the break.

Fletcher replaced Damon Gray at half-time and he was quickly involved in the action, attempting to set up Sproule for the elusive opener but the winger just failed to connect in front of goal.

Dunfermline then suffered a blow when they picked up the first booking of the game.

A total of 10 of the players on the pitch were walking a disciplinary tightrope and Mason proved to be the first victim, his yellow card for a challenge on Whittaker ruling him out of the final.

Once the game was under way again, both Jones and Whittaker were came close with their respective headers as Hibs attempted to grab this tie by the scruff of the neck.

Hibs continued to pile on the pressure and De Vries did well to claw the ball from the feet of Brown, just as he was about to pull the trigger in front of goal.

The Hibs star then had the chance to make amends when he turned on the six-yard line and rifled a shot at goal, but the Pars 'keeper pulled off a great block, before the danger was cleared.

With time running out, Hibs claimed for a penalty when substitute Shiels went to ground under pressure from Souleymane Bamba but the pleas were ignored by referee Craig Thomson.

Instead, the official pointed to the spot at the other end of the park with 87 minutes on the clock, when Chris Hogg hauled down Hammill in the box.

McIntyre stepped up for the pressure kick and he kept his cool to chip the ball straight down the middle and fire Dunfermline into the Scottish Cup final.

Teams

Dunfermline: De Vries, Shields, McGuire, Bamba, Muirhead,

Young (Burchill 77), Mason, McCunnie, Hammill (Ross 88),

O'Brien (Owen Morrison 70), McIntyre.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Daquin.

Booked: Mason, Hammill, McIntyre.

Goals: McIntyre 88 pen.

Hibernian: McNeil, Whittaker, Hogg, Jones, Murphy, Scott Brown,

Beuzelin (Chisholm 74), Stevenson, Sproule (Shiels 67),

Benjelloun, Gray (Fletcher 46).

Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, McCann.

Booked: Stevenson.

Att: 8,536

Ref: C Thomson (Scotland).