{"id":286463,"date":"2026-02-08T00:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/286463\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T00:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:27:09","slug":"oneill-thought-celtics-cup-run-was-over-before-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/286463\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Neill thought Celtic’s cup run was over before drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin O’Neill thought Scottish Cup progression was “a long, long way away” before Celtic scored a last-gasp leveller against Dundee before going on to win 2-1 after extra time at Parkhead.<\/p>\n

Steven Pressley\u2019s side looked like they could be on their way to their first win in the competition at Celtic Park when midfielder Ethan Hamilton thundered in his first Dundee goal in the 49th minute of the pulsating fifth-round tie.<\/p>\n

The home side toiled thereafter but with effectively the last touch of the game<\/a>, which went beyond the five added minutes on the board, Junior Adamu, who came off the bench to make his debut, flicked in a dramatic equaliser.<\/p>\n

Two minutes into extra time another substitute Sebastian Tounekti, who set up the goal, fired in the winner for Celtic.<\/p>\n

A relieved O\u2019Neill said: “Well, naturally delighted to be in the hat for the next round.<\/p>\n

“It seemed a long, long way away, when what was it, the 97th minute?<\/p>\n

\"GLASGOW,
\nJunior Adamu’s last-gaps goal forced extra-time<\/p>\n

“I definitely think that we showed a determination to go to the very, very end, and try and create something.<\/p>\n

“But just so pleased with the team, naturally. I thought they were brilliant. Really, really brilliant to see that through, despite the mistakes that we made during the course of the game.<\/p>\n

“While the ball\u2019s probably in the penalty area, then you know something might still materialise, as Seb had it.<\/p>\n

“I thought his introduction was probably key, really, as much as anything else. But you would think that the game\u2019s gone beyond you.<\/p>\n

“If, for instance, Dundee kicked the ball clear, that\u2019s probably the game over. But we\u2019ve found a way to save the game and we find a way to win it.”<\/p>\n

Celtic confirmed the signing of 32-year-old former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain<\/a> a couple of hours before kick-off.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill will ascertain his fitness in the next couple of days ahead of the home game against Livingston on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

He said: “We would know in a couple of days. He looks in really decent shape.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s not carrying any weight and he\u2019s raring to go.<\/p>\n

“I said this pre-match, he shows that hunger that he\u2019s had for his career and a determination.<\/p>\n

“And I think in terms of options he could have hung around the London area, even if Arsenal weren\u2019t to take him, he could have, he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

“And so he\u2019s decided to come up and throw himself forward here.<\/p>\n

“I will have a look at that and see how he does in the next couple of days.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin O’Neill thought Scottish Cup progression was “a long, long way away” before Celtic scored a last-gasp leveller…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-286463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}