Martin O’Neill fondly recalls Beachball Sunday ahead of Ibrox return

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The Celtic Star

·6 marzo 2026

Martin O’Neill fondly recalls Beachball Sunday ahead of Ibrox return

Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream broadcast media with the Celtic fan media including The Celtic Star still banned for absolutely no reason other than preventing any awkward questions being asked…

Celtic fans get ready for their trip to Seville during the Scottish Premier League match between Rangers and Celtic held on April 27, 2003 at Ibrox. Celtic won the match 2-1. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Here’s everything that the Celtic manager had to say as he previewed the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon and looked back with great fondness to Beachball Sunday…

Martin O’Neill applauds the Celtic support. theRangers v Celtic. 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

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Q: Martin, you’ve had the busy schedule, how’s everyone come through Wednesday night?

Martin O’Neill: “A couple of niggles, Kieran Tierney for a start. Although the injury he had to his foot, it’s actually clearing up. He’s just generally sore in that aspect. We’ll see how he is tomorrow. Generally speaking, he’s done fabulous for us. Now he’s getting back to almost complete fitness, which is great. We’ll see.

Kieran Tierney at Pittodrie. Scottish Premiership. Wednesday 4th March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

“Kasper Schmeichel trained today, first time since the injection, first time since he’s better. We’ll see how he is tomorrow as well. The young goalkeeper has done really fine for us as well. So who else is there? A couple of other bumps and bruises, but we’re trying to get through it.”

Kasper Schmeichel, Stevie Woods and Viljami Sinisalo of Celtic. Stuttgart v Celtic, UEFA Europa League, Knockout Round Play Offs, Second Leg, Football, MHP Arena, Stuttgart, Germany – 26 Feb 2026Stuttgart MHP Arena Germany Photo James Marsh IMAGO Shutterstock

Q: What’s that like now, having potentially that decision to make, having played so well, and if Kasper is available?

Martin O’Neill: “We’ll see. That’s the nature of the business. You make some big decisions at times. We’ll see how it is anyway.”

Q: Is that something you’ve had to speak to Kasper about specifically yet? How does that work from a management perspective?

Martin O’Neill: “Generally speaking, managers are in the habit of speaking to players at some stage or another. We’ve just had very, very brief chats, but it’s nothing substantial at this moment.”

Reo Hatate scores at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: What are your thoughts going back to Ibrox a week on from what was quite an end to the game for you last weekend?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, a different competition, but even so, the same sort of feelings about it. We’ve had the three games in six days, which has been a tall order for us, all away from home. Stuttgart, which was a great effort, second half at (the) Rangers. And I think because of that there, we were able to withstand the game at Pittodrie the other evening. So that was always going to be difficult. The most important thing was for us to win, to try and stay in the competition.”

Q: To what extent can you take positives from the second half at Ibrox and use this week?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, I think we should. It’s not that long ago, obviously, so I think that would be important for us. If we play like we did in the first half, we shouldn’t turn up then! But the second half gave us great confidence, I think, and the ability to know that we can fight back. I think it was a testament to the players’ character as much as anything else.”

Q: I know a lot of supporters have been waiting for this bigger away allocation to come around again. How much are you looking forward to having 7,500 seats?

Martin O’Neill: “That would be nice, really, really nice. From a distance, not that my voice is anything, but I’ve been advocating for it to happen, for both clubs to open up again, because it is a fantastic fixture. And it’s made much, much better because of the full allocation. I know I don’t want to go back into yesteryear, all that type of stuff, but those fixtures were really something special, and I still think they are. And if the clubs could agree and get back to full allocation for away fans, it would be terrific. So this will be a test, anyway.”

Kieran Tierney scoring at Ibrox. theRangers v Celtic. 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Was that something that you really enjoyed and you felt maybe helped the team as well, walking out at Ibrox, and you had that wall of colour and noise?

Martin O’Neill: “Of course, yes, it was really terrific. Please, I shouldn’t be interfering in what police say, but I think our fans are supposed to… It’s a one o’clock kick-off, isn’t it? And they were asking to be in for ten o’clock. Will they get breakfast in there? It’s pretty early, that, isn’t it? Even by normal standards.”

Q: Just to pick up on Kieran Tierney there? Just how big has he been for you? I know he’s a doubt for the weekend but he’d be a huge miss for you?

Martin O’Neill: “He would be, yes. I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but I think he’s been colossal for us.He really has. There were times when I came back in the first spell that I thought, I wonder, will he ever get to the level that he was before? And you often wondered whether it was just fitness alone, the fact that he hadn’t played for quite some considerable time. Every single time he just seemed to be playing with injuries at Arsenal, not getting his career going at all. But he’s come roaring back here, honestly. But he’s been fantastic for us, really, really fantastic. And I’m pleased to see it, obviously. Selfishly, I’m delighted with it, but great to see him. Because there were times, as I said, in my first spell, I was wondering whether that would ever happen. But he’s come back very strongly.”

Martin O’Neill applauds the Celtic support. theRangers v Celtic. 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Obviously, a cup game, can this have any bearing on what happens next in the league if you do manage to get one over on Rangers?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, naturally, just taking the game on its own, that would be a big boost for us if we could win the game and get into the semi-final of the competition. That would be great. Will it eventually have a bearing, I think, on the way the league is going to pan out? I’m really not so sure. There’s tough matches ahead for us, there’s tough matches ahead for the sides concerned. So I really don’t know. I suppose it would be if you got beaten in the game, that’s how quickly you can get over it.”

Q: Going back to having the whole complement of fans, Martin, do you remember back to Beach Ball Sunday, the time before Celtic went to Seville?

Martin O’Neill: “I do, I do.”

Q: What’s your memories of that?

Martin O’Neill: “Great. Really great, yeah, absolutely. It was terrific. It’s a long time ago. Yeah, it was great.

Q: Do you think you might see something similar on Sunday?

Martin O’Neill: “I don’t think we’ll see any Beach Ball Sunday, but boys dressed up in fishermen’s outfits or something. I don’t know, but it was a great spectacle then. Time has moved on, honestly. Now I’ve been accused by my family of dwelling in the past, so I’m trying to get myself out of that and look to whatever future I have left. You don’t see it from this side. I look down and I gaze here at some very, very young men in the front seat and I think, I’d like to be that age again. I’m sure it’s not going to happen.”

Q: Celtic have been in the habit of winning multiple trophies. A lot of people are focusing on the title race and the Premiership this season, but just how important is this competition as well to complement the title race to give Celtic the best chance of winning more than one trophy if possible?

Martin O’Neill: “Right, a good point. We’re miles away from winning anything and that is very, very true. I think the overall picture is that it should be a wake-up call for the football club, really. You could say that in recent years the fans have maybe been spoiled. No real challenges in many aspects.

“Being able to coast home in the last six or seven games of the season, which is great because you’ve done that, but the challenge has not been strong. Here it is. Hearts have arrived on the spot maybe a few years before they thought they would do. Rangers have come strongly and spent some money getting good players in at the football club. So it’s important for us now. It’s been a challenge all season.

“It’s certainly been a challenge in my couple of spells in here where you’re winning some matches and you’re still trying to peg teams back. But we’re in with a chance anyway. That’s the point. Regardless of Sunday’s game, as you say, I don’t think it would have a serious bearing. But in terms of confidence building, of course, those things always matter. But for the league, I’m not sure, it’s down now to nine games left.”

Premier Sports Cup. St Mirren v Celtic. Hampden Park, Sunday 14 December 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

Q: With one trophy slipped away already this season, is there pressure on this?

Martin O’Neill: “Those things can happen. They can happen. The year that… We’ll go back to yesteryear. So in 2003 when we reached the UEFA Cup final, we didn’t win anything. Rangers won. And yet you’ve still got Celtic fans saying it was one of the best seasons ever. We chased them down until the last day of the season. We played about 15 more games than they did during the course of the season because we’d gone so deeply into European football. All of those things.

“We can only look forward now. We’ve got a chance in a cup competition and we’ve got a chance in the league. But yes, to me it’s just been… From my viewpoint here, it’s just been really hard work.”

Odsonne Edouard of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 3-2 lead. theRangers v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Ibrox, 11 March 2018. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock/IMAGO

Q: Can I just ask finally, in terms of the start of the game, you’re going to have that full allocation. How important is it that you start well and have the fans cheering from minute one?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, the fans will be cheering. Don’t worry about that. They will be cheering. Well, I’ve just done a previous interview here and I just said that we would need to start better than we did in the game. We might be the team that starts really brightly and we might be the team holding on at the end. So it’s a different game. But we cannot afford to go as long a period and not doing so well because you can actually not be in control of a whole match. That’s the point.

“And you can be out of the game for 10, 15, 20 minutes. As long as you hang in there during the course of that time. But in that 15 or 20 minutes you’re out, the game could go beyond you. I don’t know what’s going to happen on Sunday. But getting back to your point that I agree with, we need to start better. We’ll see. That’s the nature of the business. You make some big decisions at times. We’ll see how it is anyway.”

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