Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream media ahead of the title showdown at Celtic Park tomorrow when Celtic will take on Hearts and the Scottish Premiership trophy will be lifted by either Callum McGregor or Lawrence Shankland. Here’s everything that the legendary Celtic manager had to say…by the way, do you like the new and improved version of Celtic Shorts?
Q: How are you all feeling with everything that’s at stake?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, we’re really looking forward to it now, and why shouldn’t we? I think it’s a big, big game, and we have to win it, Hearts don’t, so the advantage is with them in that aspect. But yeah, we’re going out on just all guns blazing to try and win.”
Q: Everything you’ve seen and done, is this as big as it gets in terms of a final day shootout with both teams coming in?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, very much so, yeah, absolutely. I’ve witnessed it before and experienced that. Not great experiences, but that’s a long time ago, and I don’t think any of the Celtic players would have remembered that.”
Q: How do you feel you arrive into this, given recent results, recent performances, and where you are now compared to previously?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I think that from the game against Dundee United at Tannadice, we’ve woken up, we’re a better side now, a bit more confidence about ourselves as well too. And if you’d said to me after Tannadice that you had to win all your games, I thought that would have been a tall order, but it turns out we’ve had to do that. And I was perhaps hoping that there might have been a slip-up somewhere along the way, where if we did slip, let’s say through a game or something, or lost a match, that it wasn’t fatal, as it turns out it would’ve been.”
Q: These players have experienced so many big atmospheres in cup finals. Is there a chance that even this could still be something completely different?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I just think they’re ready for the game. I think that, yeah, they’ve had things their own way in recent times, now they’ve had to fight, and so far they’ve shown that they’re up for it, they’re ready to go. But listen, the game’s in the balance, really it is. We’re at home, we have to win, Hearts have to just avoid defeat. As I said to you earlier, it’s a wee bit of an advantage. However, it’ll be a tough game for both teams.”
Q: Some of the focus has maybe been shifted away from the game just because of the penalty decision at the weekend. There’s been so much fallout from it, what have you made of the fallout over the last couple of days?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, it’s obviously been magnified, I think, because of the occasion as much as anything else. I think a couple of things. One, I think it’s a penalty. I think he’s handled the ball, also his arm around his neck as well, but that’s beside the point. When you see it again properly, it is a penalty. In the wider scheme of things, I think that everybody should be looking at this. Throughout Europe, we’ve seen penalties given, and we all think, well, that wouldn’t have happened years ago, it wouldn’t have done.
“It looks very, very harsh. The handball rule should be a major point of discussion in the summertime, to have a look again, to see what they’re doing. And I know sometimes in European football, it’s a wee bit different to ours, it shouldn’t be, it should be uniform. It should be absolutely, it should be straightforward. In this accidental handball, unnatural for positions and stuff like this here. People maybe even being pushed into situations, but I think all of that’s got to be looked at. As the rules stand at this minute, that was a penalty.”
Q: Have you been surprised at just how strong the reaction has been? Because when you look at a lot of, even the media down south, there’s been a lot of focus on it, which maybe doesn’t happen all that often?
Martin O’Neill: “Am I surprised? No, I’m not surprised, because everybody wants Hearts to win. It’s really as simple as that. Everybody outside Celtic and the Celtic diaspora wants Hearts to win. And so if it wasn’t Hearts, it would be Rangers, it would be somebody else. That’s the nature of it.”
Q: Can you use that as motivation, if you feel that everyone outside Celtic…?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, I motivate myself from it. I don’t necessarily have to motivate a couple of lads from South Korea and Japan. But, yeah, I know that. That’s the point.”
Q: Can you sum up just the occasion, the madness that’s going to ensue, just because of what it means to both Celtic and to Hearts on this final day?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, if Hearts win or draw the game, then they deserve to win the league. It really is as simple as that. And if we can win, then somewhere along the way, I think we deserve to win it. It’s the number of points that you end up with at the end of the season that determines these things. But in terms of the atmosphere, it will be electric. There’s no question about it. We have got, at least temporarily, we seem to have a bit of a unified situation at Celtic Park, which has been massive for the side. I don’t think it should be underestimated. The team has been kept going by the crowd. And we’ll need that tomorrow. And the crowd don’t need reminding of how brilliant they’ve been in recent weeks.”
Q: Personally, for you, the rollercoaster of coming in, going out again, then coming back, if you were to get over the line, where would this rank for you?
Martin O’Neill: “Well, we’re not over the line. We’re a million miles off it. So I can’t deal in something that I genuinely don’t know what will happen.”
Q: It’s been a big effort, obviously, Martin, for your players the last few weeks. Is that just the case now with these last two big games of the season, asking them to give everything for it?
Martin O’Neill: “Oh yeah, I think they have been. We have faults in our team, naturally. But I can’t honestly, I could not question their commitment or their willingness to get back again. Probably the only time was at Tannadice, when I thought that they just didn’t perform. I don’t know whether they would want me to try and put the pitches in as an excuse, or whatever the case may be. A lot of it was down to me as well. So I didn’t deal with it too well. So I made time then to reflect and think, because of the international break. But the team has come fighting back, roaring back. So they deserve this opportunity to get to the last match.”
Q: I don’t know if this is explicitly being said publicly, but are you feeling that this will be your final league match in charge of Celtic at Celtic Park?
Martin O’Neill: “I was asked that question there by Luke (Sky Sports), and I would say, yeah, more than a reasonable chance. Reasonable suggests something, but that will be my last game.”
Q: How are you feeling? Because it’s going to be an incredible atmosphere tomorrow anyway, but for you to step out into that dugout for the final time as Celtic manager with so much at stake with the relationship you’ve got with the club, I imagine it’s going to be quite emotional for you?
Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I suppose it is. I genuinely, and I also said this. Yeah, it was a privilege to come back again for a start this particular year. I’d never thought in a million years that this could have happened, really. And so I should actually enjoy it. I should actually enjoy it more than I’m doing. But, yeah, it gives me… I mean, when I left here in 2005, I didn’t come back and become the manager in 2007 or 2009. It took me 20-odd years to do that. So I should enjoy it a bit more than I’m doing.”
Q: Martin, just in the last few hours, the club released a statement to fans just about if they were to get over the line, just to celebrate sensibly, reasonably. Do you echo that comment from the club, and what would be your message to supporters?
Martin O’Neill: “Absolutely. This is it. I think that if we were fortunate enough to win, and that’s a long way away, in terms of people celebrating, I know that I think that the community would be worried about that, people in excess of celebration. It’s happened in the past. I just want people to be safe, really, as much as anything else.”
Q: How’s your squad?
Martin O’Neill: “I think we’re OK, yeah.”
READ THIS...SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE RATINGS: CELTIC @ FIR PARK COAT AND NAE KNICKERS – Motherwell 2-3 Celtic – “Iconic scenes, iconic scenes” and iconic ratings
🍀 Watch highlights as VAR drama saw Celtic score a 99th-minute penalty to beat Motherwell and set up a final-day title decider at home to Hearts, live on Sky Sports ⤵️https://t.co/dCADbD9r5i
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 13, 2026
HAVE YOUR SAY…Tell us your thoughts on that dramatic match at Fir Park and what it means for Saturday as Hearts come to Celtic Park for a title showdown. Post in the comments section below…
Now the dust has settled.. The reaction from many high profile people is way over the top. John Beaton was advised to go to the monitor and saw that the ball hit the arm in an unnatural position Bottom line is people would hate to see Celtic win the title again and that is all.
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) May 14, 2026
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