The Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire booked the first ticket to this year’s AFCON final with a convincing 3-1 win over DR Congo in the first semi final game.

Yaya Toure’s first half pile driver had given the Elephants an early lead, but a penalty barely a minute later from Dieumerci Mbokani levelled matters. Gervinho restored the lead just before half time with another sweet finish, before Wilifried Kanon hit the final nail into DR Congo’s coffin when he reacted fastest to a rebound in the Congolese box.

Both sides came into the game after improved quarter final performances despite slow starts to the tournament. Cote d’Ivoire was impressive in beating Algeria 3-1, whilst DRC had come from two goals down to win 4-2 against Congo.

It started at a blistering pace, and got even more charged when Yaya Toure hit a pile driver from the edge of the box that zoomed straight past Kidiaba in post for the DRC.

That lead lasted barely a minute. A handling offence led to the referee to award DRC a penalty, and as usual Mbokani made no mistake from the spot.

The game was a much more balanced affair after that, but just when Congo would have been confident they had a foothold in the game, disaster struck.

A lighting quick counter saw Bony smartly tee off Gervinho, who hit a curled effort into the top corner that Kidiaba had absolutely no chance of getting to.

At the end of proceedings, it was former Ghana assistant manager Herve Renard’s Ivory Coast who prevailed; and their star-studded side make their second final in three years, hoping to have better luck this time around than they did in 2012.

The Zambia team who beat them in that final was managed by none other than Renard himself. His Zambia also beat Ghana in the semis, and in case the Stars make the final we would have to surmount the challenge of Renard and a super charged Ivorian side led by the Manchester City duo of Yaya Toure and Wilifried Bony.

First though, the Stars would have to skirt the challenge of hosts Equatorial Guinea. It’s going to be a far from easy task, one that commences tomorrow at 1900 GMT.