Saturday October 31st 2026
Celtic Manager Martin O’Neill.
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Adam Bowen
Martin O’Neill’s side beat the other side of Edinburgh last weekend, following their 7-1 demolition of Hearts.
It was only the one goal advantage Celtic had against Hibs with the game ending 2-1.
Speaking to the press following the game O’Neill said,
“Well, performance wasn’t that fantastic” but he did call it “our best win of the season”
In terms of Hibs’ first goal, he jokingly said, “we were still on the bus when Hibs scored” but then praised Hibs for their smart play,
“It’s a very, very good free kick from their viewpoint. Really clever. And we were just absolutely asleep for it.”
He was very positive about his team’s quick response, scoring the second goal 2 minutes after Hibs netted theirs.
Duran is now joint top goalscorer for Celtic putting his tally up to 6 for the premiership season.
However, O’Neill didn’t believe that his splendid, curled strike was going to be the winner. But again, he reiterated how he was, “pleased with the win, considering everything.”
He did however agree that the switching off for the Hibs early opener could be down to the impact of playing on a Thursday night.
Martin also credited the resilience, and toughness Hibs possess,
“Coming here, it’s difficult, regardless, as I say, of their position. I’ve been here many times before, never, ever had an easy game, never, never been easy.”
The returning Carter Vickers provided a huge block to deny Mulligan an equaliser with little time left on the clock. Speaking about how great it is to have a returning player produce that sort of moment O’Neill stated,
“Oh really satisfying. Absolutely. Big block for us as well, too, because it’s, it’s goal bound.”
He did make sure to credit Dane Murray, who has stepped in during Carter Vickers recovery.
“He’s got all the potential in the world to be a really fine centre back.”
Inevitably he was asked about the £11 million signing Kasper Hogh and if O’Neill needs more from him,
“Yeah. So he’s a box player. I think the one that Callum Osmand slid across the box, I think, a confident Kasper would be sliding that one into the net, a wee bit like the second game in the season at Kilmarnock. Yeah, definitely, just a bit of lack of confidence at this minute.”
Duran is in flying form, scoring a goal in each of his last 3 Premiership matches so Hogh will be hoping to get his own shooting boots on soon, as O’Neill did state,
“There’s a bit of competition for places, you know? Particularly if really, as we’ve said this before, if Duran’s best position would probably be at centrefold.”
It was a huge blow for Alistair Johnston who had to come off just 20 minutes after his return from a 2-month hamstring injury. Speaking on the subject O’Neill said,
“He felt something at the top of his hamstring. A wee bit higher than before, which might be encouraging”
“15, 20 minutes, and you saw, even in that little period of time, you saw what he’s capable of doing, both defensively and getting forward. Yeah, it would be a big blow to him, big blow to the club. If it is a hamstring injury.”
This has happened to Johnston in the past; last season he came back from an injury of 2 months and had to go off in his return game. Hopefully the injury is not too bad, and he’ll be playing again soon.
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