“There was a lot of jubilation at us winning. Obviously, the fans spilled over,” Martin O’Neill

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The Celtic Star

·9 March 2026

“There was a lot of jubilation at us winning. Obviously, the fans spilled over,” Martin O’Neill

Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream media at Ibrox yesterday afternoon after Celtic’s penalty shoot-out win over the Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarterfinal to set up a semi-final against St Mirren next month. Here’s everything that was said by the Celtic manager…

Martin O’Neill at the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, a fantastic result, but overshadowed by the scenes at the end. What did you make of it all, and how disappointing was it to see the game end in that fashion?

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Martin O’Neill: “Well, it was a big derby game. I think there was a lot of jubilation at us winning. Obviously, the fans spilled over. I suppose it’s very difficult to quell that if that’s the case, I don’t know. But I thought that might have been, maybe it should be the first question, maybe it shouldn’t be. I thought it might be your third question. I just thought that the team were absolutely fantastic. We were in our fourth game in ten days, we were absolutely out on our feet. We defended magnificently for long periods of the game and eventually came through.”

Q: Just from a Celtic point of view, can you check all of your players and staff are all safe, all okay?

Martin O’Neill: “I think as we were making our way back, I think there was some sort of fracas; somebody tried to get on the field. I don’t know, all I saw was there was a bit of a scrum down at the bottom. And as you say, maybe it does taint proceedings, but I think there’s an element of self-protection in that one. So if that’s the case, please, I’m making judgments here on things that I only half saw. But from my viewpoint, it was a great, great win for us. We were under pressure during the course of the game. As you would expect, Rangers are very strong. They’ve had the full week to go at it. We’ve had to travel to Aberdeen, it was our fourth away game in ten days. It was a fantastic effort by the players, really, really fantastic.”

Scotland’s Shame – theRangers fans attacking the Celtic support at Ibrox after Celtic won the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Martin, does it greatly upset you that those scenes are going to overshadow the performance?

Martin O’Neill: “I think that would be a worry. For me, from a distance, I’ve been saying that the fixture itself is still a phenomenal fixture. There’s no question about that. It had lost a bit of its lustre because the away fans, the full complement of away fans, weren’t allowed in. And I have no idea what might happen. So from that viewpoint, yes, because I think today with the crowd, with our crowd there, I thought it was really, to me, it was a proper Old Firm game in that sense. But we’ll see what develops.”

Celtic fansl at the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

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Q: Just on the allocation, Martin, you’ve mentioned in previous statements that you’d wanted to see this sort of allocation. Is there worry that what happens today might mean that that’s the end?

Martin O’Neill: “No, that’s not for me to make a judgment. Certainly not only 20 minutes after the game is over. So I don’t know that. If it is, if that’s the case, that’s a concern.”

Q: In general, considering the tension around this game and the fact that there were so many more Celtic fans than previously, was there any discussion between yourself and the security staff about removing the players? Because the players were on for a long, long time?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, no, I don’t think there was any. The security men, in fairness to them, were wanting to get people off. But there is a natural euphoria about winning a game and about fans joining in. If this has gone too far, that would be disappointing.”

Celtic fansl at the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: The derby has always had a certain level of spite about it. In the time you’ve been away, do you get a sense of the animosity or the atmosphere within it has grown in any way?

Martin O’Neill: “I don’t know whether it’s grown. It hasn’t lessened. Anyway, let me put it this way. And if any of us ever come down to this earth in 500 years, it will be exactly the same. Exactly the same.”

Q: Did your players say anything about it in the dressing room afterwards?

Martin O’Neill: “No, no. I just said well done to the team and I went into my own little room to cool down myself. My heart’s beating at a rate that a 74-year-old’s shouldn’t be doing. I didn’t hear them saying, but we’ll certainly have a chat about it.”

Scotland’s Shame – theRangers fans attacking the Celtic support at Ibrox after Celtic won the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

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Q: Was it quite frightening to be involved?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, I didn’t think so, because if I’m on and I’m waving to our crowd and we have actually won, there’s a fairly decent chance I’m going to get off lightly in that one. If we had lost, I don’t think I would have been there. I think I might have been the first one down in the tunnel. I’m not trying to play lightly or whatever. There is an excessive celebration if that’s the case, and I would need to see the whole thing again.”

Austin Trusty scores his penalty. Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Just on the football itself, obviously, the penalties were taken at the Rangers end, but your players certainly held on there for four conversions?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, they did. I must admit that they took them brilliantly. They were obviously under a lot of pressure to do it. So to step up and take that walk for a start, which I said that you can’t really do it. You can take penalties (in training), which we did, but you can’t really – what shall I say – you just don’t know what it’s like until you step up and take the penalties. It was pleasing to see how well they did it.”

Tomas Cvancara scores the penalty that takes Celtic into the semi-finals. Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: You said you practised it in training. To what extent did you guys practise the penalties?

Martin O’Neill: “You practise the penalties, but you can’t replicate it. You certainly cannot do it. After Reo Hatate last Sunday, taking the penalties, once I saw that Reo was down as one of the five penalty takers, I might have been a bit concerned. It didn’t take him three attempts to put it in, and he wanted to take the penalty. The most important thing, I think, about these things is that the five of them wanted to take the penalties. So that’s great.”

Q: Martin, you’ve been in charge of a few of these games at the time. Can you remember as good a Celtic defensive display?

Martin O’Neill: “It’s really, really strong. I know I’ve said this here now. I don’t want to delve into the past, but I’ve come here with really, really strong defence before. The number of blocks that we got on, the number of last-ditched challenges that we made in the game, just to stay in the tie, it was really amazing.”

Callum McGregor ahead of the match. Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: The fact that you did it without Callum McGregor?

Martin O’Neill: “I think that shouldn’t be overlooked, the very fact that Callum, I think I said this, that he was feeling it in Aberdeen. I think the medical team were saying it’s something that was here last year, maybe come back, and maybe missed a few games or something like that there. So the best thing to do was just to take him out of it. Kieran Tierney was just certainly not right to start in the game. He might have been able to have come on, I think, but I thought, well, who knows what might happen during the course of it. He might have been forced to go on after five minutes in the match and then he wouldn’t have lasted. So for us to miss two big players like that there and still come through, it was brilliant.”

Q: You’ve won at Ibrox a number of times, Martin, so how does that rank in all those victories?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I think any victory at Ibrox is big news for us. So from that viewpoint, it was great to win and we’re into the semi-final of the Scottish cup. Still a million miles to go, both that and in the league, but that should give the players an enormous boost.”

Q: How much does that set you up for the rest of the campaign in the league and the cup?

Martin O’Neill: “It’s a good point you mentioned. I genuinely do not know. Honestly, I don’t know. There’s going to be twists and turns. I went to Dundee yesterday with Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham to watch the game. So we’ve got Motherwell next, which will not be easy for us. So I honestly don’t know.”

Referee Don Robertson and Viljami Sinisalo after Celtic won the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Viljami Sinisalo’s performance was pretty much flawless. He certainly answered any questions?

Martin O’Neill: “He did really well for us. He did really well. I just asked him, could he command the six yard box? And he did that wonderfully well. And when it looked as if he might have been beaten, then somebody else got the block on for him. So I was really delighted with him.”

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Q: There’s a full week of training ahead of Motherwell?

Martin O’Neill: “That would be nice to have a wee look at things. So the boys have got a couple of days off now, which they deserve for their efforts. And I think we’re back on Wednesday morning, so it gives us a little run-through until Saturday.”

Liam Scales celebrates after Celtic won the Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday 8 March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: What was the thinking behind Liam Scales at left-back today? Because Marcelo Saracchi was available as well?

Martin O’Neill: “Yes, Saracchi was available, but we thought we would start with Scales at left back. The very natural concern is from set pieces, things like that. Scales played left back and done it admirably, but it was really for that there. We just needed a little bit more height for the set pieces, and it turned out that that’s exactly what was needed.”

Q: What was the timescale on Callum and Kieran? Will they be back for Motherwell?

Martin O’Neill: “That’s a good point. I think Kieran should, if I thought that he might have been able to have done maybe 30 minutes, all being well today, which he could not. I’m hoping that he will be back for next week. Callum, we would just have to have a look. Before the game, when the two of them dropped out, it was a major loss, so for the players to compensate for that, it was brilliant.”

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order