{"id":417713,"date":"2026-04-26T00:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/417713\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T00:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T00:57:09","slug":"scottish-premiership-celtic-go-level-on-points-with-hearts-at-top-of-table-scottish-premiership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/417713\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish Premiership: Celtic go level on points with Hearts at top of table | Scottish Premiership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin O\u2019Neill hailed Daizen Maeda\u2019s return to form after the Japan international drove Celtic to a 3-1 win over Falkirk. The centre-forward scored twice and set up Kieran Tierney as the Hoops moved level on points with the Premiership leaders, Hearts. The first two goals were a direct result of Maeda closing down opponents and he finished smartly for the third after the substitute Kyrell Wilson had pulled a goal back.<\/p>\n

Maeda had sent Celtic on their way to the Scottish Cup final last weekend by charging down a clearance from the St Mirren<\/a> goalkeeper Ryan Mullen to net and he again showed the value of his work ethic.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill said: \u201cLast week he gets a goal out of nothing from closing down. His closing down is amazing. Even in the 85th minute, he closes someone down. I thought he was brilliant. I was pleased the one that he missed was actually offside, otherwise I\u2019d have killed him. No, you couldn\u2019t have done that today to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old has struggled to recapture the form that yielded 33 club goals last season plus Scotland\u2019s main player of the year awards. Maeda had scored only eight this season before last weekend\u2019s Hampden goal and had not found the net since 10 January. A summer move to Wolfsburg collapsed amid Celtic\u2019s difficulties signing attacking players and O\u2019Neill believes that episode might have had an impact.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill added: \u201cIt may well have been that move to the Bundesliga may have affected him at the time. Maybe he thought he was all set up \u2013 or so I believe, I wasn\u2019t here at the time. I think he had maybe done his job here and felt: \u2018Well, maybe I deserve to go to the Bundesliga.\u2019 And when it didn\u2019t happen, and apparently it may have been at the 11th hour, there will be a natural disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only putting that out \u2013 it may not be that at all \u2013 but he\u2019s come roaring back. He deserves any accolades that have been bestowed on him over the past few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daizen Maeda scores Celtic\u2019s first against Falkirk. Photograph: Andrew Milligan\/PA<\/p>\n

Aberdeen led from the first minute in their vital match against their relegation rivals Kilmarnock, but had to hold on for a 1-0 win in a game where their crossbar was struck three times.<\/p>\n

Afeez Aremu netted the early opener but, while Aberdeen<\/a> rarely looked like adding a second, Killie\u2019s Aaron Tshibola headed off the bar twice and Jack Milne came close to an own goal when he headed on to his own woodwork.<\/p>\n

The Dons had won their final game before the split, against Hibs, to open up a five-point gap on Kilmarnock, who fill the relegation playoff spot, and that went some way to easing the tension around the Granite City.<\/p>\n

Bottom-placed Livingston battled for a slim lifeline with a 2-0 win at St Mirren. The Buddies\u2019 emergency keeper, Ross Sinclair, was making his first start of the season, but it was the Livi keeper, Jerome Prior, who made several saves in a first half dominated by Saints.<\/p>\n

The visitors improved after the break and in the 67th minute they forced themselves ahead through an Alex Gogic own goal. A strike from the substitute Scott Pittman in the 80th minute sealed three points and only Livi\u2019s second league victory of the season since beating Falkirk on 9 August.<\/p>\n

Rangers are at home to Motherwell on Sunday, before the leaders visit Hibernian. Dundee United host Dundee in Sunday\u2019s early game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin O\u2019Neill hailed Daizen Maeda\u2019s return to form after the Japan international drove Celtic to a 3-1 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-417713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417713","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=417713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}