Martin O’Neill was delighted to see Celtic respond to their Champions League disappointment with a 2-1 victory over Falkirk, although a fresh injury concern over Kieran Tierney took some shine off the win.
The Hoops returned to domestic action for the first time since Tuesday night’s disastrous collapse against LASK and maintained their perfect start to the Scottish Premiership season.
Celtic made life more difficult for themselves after allowing Falkirk back into the contest during the second half, but O’Neill was satisfied with the response from a side still feeling the physical and psychological effects of their 120-minute European ordeal.
O’Neill told BBC Sportsound: “I’m delighted to win the game.
“The exertions and the disappointment of Tuesday night- playing 120 minutes and losing a place in the Champions League which would’ve been fantastic – you have to overcome that.
“We travelled back and we’re still disappointed… so as you mention, the physical and psychological aspects of it all were a big concern today.
“Falkirk coming in with plenty of enthusiasm, which I knew they would have, and also the fact that they caused us umpteen problems here in all the games that I was involved in last year as well, too.
“Delighted to have won. I thought we created an awful lot of really good chances. At 2-0, you feel as if you’re still on the knife edge.
“They get the goal, and then the last 15 minutes become a worrying time – when, in actual fact, it probably shouldn’t be.
“But overall, delighted to have won the game considering the circumstances, and that was probably the most important thing.”
The victory leaves Celtic with a 100 per cent league record after three matches, although O’Neill is refusing to read too much into their early position.
On the Hoops’ perfect start, he said: “That’s all it is, really. To be honest, it’s very early.
“Reiterating the point; coming back from Tuesday night to win the game today.
“So we go again on Wednesday, we’ll see how the players are. But just to win, because I felt that the number players who had played a lot of the game on Tuesday night were starting to flag a little bit in the game.
“It’s early season, and it sounds crazy, but the players are still trying to get up to speed. But we did fine to win.”
There was concern, however, after Tierney was forced off, with O’Neill revealing the issue was more than initially thought and could be similar to the problem currently affecting Kasper Hogh.
He added: “Kieran went off, I thought it was the cramp he had, but it wasn’t.
“It looks quite similar to Kasper [Hogh] in that sense, so I’m genuinely not sure at this minute.
“I need to find out from the physios and medical staff about it, and what that is. But we’ll see.”
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