Celtic have written to the Scottish Football Association in order to gain an 'understanding ' of the refereeing decisions during their Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Inverness on Sunday . The Hoops were left outraged by referee Steven McLean 's failure to award a penalty or red card for a clear handball in the box by Josh Meekings to deny Leigh Griffith 's goal-bound shot during the first-half . Caley Thistle went on to win the game 3-2 after extra-time and denied Rory Delia 's men the chance to secure a domestic Treble this season . Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths has a goal-bound shot blocked by the outstretched arm of Josh Meekings . Celtic 's Adam Matthews ( right ) slides in with a strong challenge on Nick Ross in the Scottish Cup semi-final . 'Given the level of reaction from our supporters and across football , we are duty bound to seek an understanding of what actually happened , ' Celtic said in a statement . They added , 'We have not been given any other specific explanation so far and this is simply to understand the circumstances of what went on and why such an obvious error was made . ' However , the Parkhead outfit made a point of congratulating their opponents , who have reached the first-ever Scottish Cup final in their history , describing Caley as a 'fantastic club ' and saying 'reaching the final is a great achievement . ' Celtic had taken the lead in the semi-final through defender Virgil van Dijk 's curling free-kick on 18 minutes , but were unable to double that lead thanks to the Meekings controversy . It allowed Inverness a route back into the game and Celtic had goalkeeper Craig Gordon sent off after the restart for scything down Marley Watkins in the area . Greg Tansey duly converted the resulting penalty . Edward Ofere then put Caley Thistle ahead , only for John Guidetti to draw level for the Bhoys . With the game seemingly heading for penalties , David Raven scored the winner on 117 minutes , breaking thousands of Celtic hearts . Celtic captain Scott Brown ( left ) protests to referee Steven McLean but the handball goes unpunished . Griffiths shows off his acrobatic skills during Celtic 's eventual surprise defeat by Inverness . Celtic pair Aleksandar Tonev ( left ) and John Guidetti look dejected as their hopes of a domestic treble end .
Celtic were beaten 3 - 2 after extra - time in the Scottish cup semi - final . ben Griffiths had a goal - scoring shot blocked by a clear handball . However , no penalty was taken against ben Josh Meekings . The commentators have written the SFA for an ' explanation ' of the decision .