Martin O'Neill & Liam Scales: Shelbourne post-match reaction

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Celtic F.C.

·8 July 2026

Martin O'Neill & Liam Scales: Shelbourne post-match reaction

There was late drama in Dublin last night (Tuesday July 7) as Celtic and Shelbourne played out a 1-1 draw at a sun soaked Tolka Park in the Hoops’ first outing of pre-season.

The match looked to be heading for a goalless draw until the hosts were awarded and scored a penalty with just a few minutes left to play. Then, just when it looked like the game would end in defeat for the Celts, Maik Nawrocki won a penalty which was converted by Shin Yamada in stoppage time.

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CelticPlayer caught up with Martin O’Neill and Liam Scales at full time and got their reactions to the match.

“Naturally, we changed the side around at half time,” Martin O’Neill said, “So lots of boys got 45 minutes. The 45 minutes were important for us.

“Some of the very young lads who've only joined in with us for the last week or so for training, I think there'll be a nervousness there. But it's just a matter of overcoming that, getting on with it, feeling as if you belong here.

‘I thought Shelbourne played really well, and it was a tough old game for us.’

“It's just exactly what we needed in all honesty. They're in the course of the season, they're strong, they're robust and they're a fine side.

“I just think that we can pick up things from that. It's our opening game and there's a long season ahead of us.”

Liam Scales said: “I've played here a lot, you know, when I was playing in the League of Ireland and I’ve very rarely won games here. It's always a hard place to come.

“They're in the middle of their season and I think obviously we're still getting up to speed, and it was a really good run out.

“You go abroad for hot weather training but it was about 27 degrees here I'd say so even to get that extra bit in the heat is really good.”

You can watch Martin O’Neill and Liam Scales’ full post-match interviews below.