Will Celtic march with O’Neill to title win?

BY THE time this page is read Celtic’s season will be in the midst of its conclusion, with the destination of the title hanging in the balance right to the very last. Celtic and Hearts have dispatched Rangers from the three-way fight and left themselves in direct conflict for Scottish football's highest honour.

The telling blows in that particular action came at Tynecastle, from the boot of Lawrence Shankland as he secured a victory for Hearts over the now-third placed side, and from the looping overhead kick by Daizen Maeda, who sealed a comfortable victory for Celtic over their city rivals with a spectacular goal.

It has set up this tense but invigorating title run-in, which for large parts of this season seemed like it would not include Celtic, but under Martin O’Neill Celtic have prioritised above all else that most precious of commodities when you are chasing footballing success—three points.

Getting results

There are glaring deficiencies in this Celtic team, but the players have been nursed by O’Neill and with just three games to go that careful management of his resources and the way in which he has built up confidence in the players Celtic finally delivered a thrilling performance.

Results have come steadily throughout the season, usually under O’Neill’s management it must be said, with Rangers twice dumped out of the cups and some reasonable achievements in European matches, but it was a new and thrilling level of performance shown by Celtic as they chased Rangers around the field and scored three goals to cancel out the early lead Rangers had taken and then even take a chunk out of Heart’s goal difference advantage.

It was long overdue, and the feeling that form has been found at the right time has lifted spirits ahead of the final two weeks of the season.

Callum McGregor is is one player who has been a source of some frustration for the Celtic support this season. Normally the fulcrum of the Celtic side, making the play and setting the standards he has spent much of this year misfiring and afflicted in the same way as his teammates by the drop-off in quality thanks to poor recruitment and the frankly baffling decision to bring Wilfried Nancy into the fold. Now, with O’Neill simplifying the job and setting a much clearer goal—just win—he has played himself back into the sort of dominant form which made him to crucial to the club.

Derby day delight

Looking back on the Glasgow derby where he once again led his side to victory, he said: “It was outstanding, The way the boys worked and ran for each other was brilliant and there were moments of quality.

“We scored really good goals, everything we work on and Daizen’s is a special moment in itself. When you get the game to that level and intensity then it’s hard for teams to live with that. We got hit with a sucker punch on the counter-attack, but the response to that was excellent. We stayed calm and were in control of the game and once we scored we didn’t really look back.”

Now, as The Irish Voice goes to press, the final telling moments of the season are upon us and the stakes could not be higher. Martin O’Neill has bullied a title challenge out of a squad which was on the canvas at more than one point this season. He may yet even win a double. It has been a remarkable salvage operation, and however it ends Martin O’Neill has earned the respect and gratitude of the Celtic support.

Dazzling Daizen

Reflecting on the home derby win which gave confidence back to the players and supporters, he gave an insight into the philosophy which has kept Celtic alive and reserved special place for the goal hero Maeda.

“I’m absolutely delighted—delighted with the team and delighted with the way we fought back,” he said. “We conceded the goal and were under a bit of pressure, but it was just a wonderful display by the team. In the second-half we really got after them and deserved to win. I felt we were capable of fighting back in the game because this side has shown plenty of resilience.

“Daizen was magnificent from start to finish in the game. First of all, the negative part of the game—closing players down—he’s terrific at that and I don’t know where he finds the energy from. But then his display was magnificent. He never gave the Rangers defence a moment to settle today, and his goal was just magnificent. The Motherwell game becomes absolutely immense for us now. It was great to win and it keeps us going, and that’s the point. It gives us a chance and that’s all you can ask for, but that’s what we’ve been doing for months and months.”

Very soon we will know if those months have been worth it.