Celtic’s turbulent season ended with an unlikely double as legendary Celtic manager Martin O’Neill rolled back the years to secure a magnificent double…
The 74 year-old interim manager ended the season winning both the Scottish Premiership in the most dramatic of circumstances and then the Scottish Cup, both in the space of eight days.
The title looked like it was going to go to Heart of Midlothian for the first time since 1960 but the Celtic supporters, with Martin O’Neill in charge, never stopped believing that a miraculous fightback was on the cards. They used their free bets to back the Hoops to make it 14 title wins in 15 seasons and were duly rewarded in the most dramatic of afternoons Celtic Park had ever witnessed.
Easily one of the most enjoyable ends to a football match and end to a season, ever. I have honestly never seen so many tears of relief and joy in Celtic Park before, and it was crazy loud ~ What a club, what a time to be alive ☘️☘️☘️ pic.twitter.com/oqilK5njSV
— chris feeney (@thatchrisfeeney) May 26, 2026
Derek McInnes’ side had held the top spot in the table from last September to the the 86th minute of the last game of the season when Daizen Maeda scored to put Celtic 2-1 ahead against Hearts at Celtic Park.
The visitors only needed a draw to become Champions but with around 12 minutes still to play including stoppage time the Jambos could not breach the Celtic defence before in the last action of the match Celtic broke free and Callum Osmand stroked the ball into an empty net to set off the Paradise title winning party just as the game ended with the score: Celtic 3 Hearts 1.
🍀 “Celtic, Champions AGAIN!”
Callum Osmand ensures Celtic’s title is retained by tapping the ball into an empty net ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/AVUZtqAIEH
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 16, 2026
Celtic had won a 56th Scottish title by two points from Hearts with both gaining Champions League play-off spots. The Rangers were third and they will be in the play-offs for the Europa League while fourth placed Motherwell and Hibs who finished fifth will participate in the Conference League play-offs.
The Easter Road outfit only secured their place on Saturday after Celtic defeated Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup Final. Had the Championship side got the better of the Scottish Champions then they and not Hibernian would have taken that final European spot.
The Scottish Cup Final win perhaps lacked the drama and the intensity of the previous week’s game against Hearts. Celtic were 2-0 ahead at the break after a dominant first 45 minutes with the Celtic talisman Daizen Maeda and the club’s record signing Arne Engels both scoring excellent goals before the two sides traded goals in the second half with Kelechi Iheanacho extending the Celtic lead before Dunfermline substitute Josh Cooper scored a consolation goal with his first touch.
Afterwards the magnanimous Pars manager Neil Lennon admitted that the better team had won and congratulated his old boss Martin O’Neill on his Scottish Cup Final success. That was in stark contrast to Derek McInnes who, like everyone else associated with Heart of Midlothian Football Club, has failed to offer any sort of congratulations to Celtic on winning the Scottish Premiership.
When Hearts next visit Celtic Park the club should make sure that the Abba anthem The Winner Takes It All is played. That would be simply delicious and the 60,000 Celtic supporters would certain lap it up.
We all hope that Derek, his staff and his players all have a lovely summer but remember that Celtic are the Champions again!
