![\"Celtic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_Celtic-v-Hibernian-William-Hill-Scottish-Premiership-Football-Celtic-Park-Glasgow-Scotland-UK.jpg\")
<\/p>\nO\u2019Neill\u2019s men suffered the last-gasp agony to stay half-a-dozen points adrift of pacesetting Hearts<\/p>\n
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill during his side’s defeat to Hibs(Image: Mark Runnacles\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Defiant Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a> blasted the title is far from over as he admits his side are down but most certainly not out.<\/p>\n The champions suffered a major blow in their bid to retain their crown when they were hit late by a Hibs sickener<\/a>.<\/p>\n In two spells this season as the manager of the squad this term, it was O\u2019Neill\u2019s first domestic defeat and it was a damaging blow.<\/p>\n With Hearts<\/a> winning their match against Falkirk at the weekend to streak six points ahead of the Hoops, Celtic<\/a> were unable to make any ground back as they lost in controversial fashion.<\/p>\n The red card for Auston Trusty was a huge moment in the game as Celtic were chasing another one of their now-customary late winners.<\/p>\n Instead, the roles were reversed from recent weeks when it was O\u2019Neill\u2019s men who suffered the last-gasp agony to stay half-a-dozen points adrift of the pacesetters with a vital game in hand.<\/p>\n The gaffer, though, is refusing to back down. He\u2019s adamant that Celtic are nowhere near out of the race as they look to claw back the gap. The manager said: \u201cIt\u2019s a setback. But that\u2019s what it is. We are far from finished. It\u2019s a tough. We are six points behind Hearts.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019ve said every single week that, domestically, it\u2019s a tough ask for us but we\u2019re still there fighting. I definitely can\u2019t fault the players in terms of effort and drive and determination. We\u2019d just like to have won the game. It wasn\u2019t to be, but it\u2019s not over yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Celtic\u2019s loss has left them in a perilous position heading into a gruelling run of away fixtures which will push them even harder.<\/p>\n Following Thursday\u2019s Europa League trip to face Stuttgart, O\u2019Neill\u2019s men return home for a clash against Rangers at Ibrox.<\/p>\n Aberdeen at Pittodrie is next in the midweek before returning to Govan for a Scottish Cup clash and high-flying Motherwell are also lying in wait back at home the week after the last-eight tie in the knockout competition.<\/p>\n It just made the nature of the loss even more annoying for Celtic and O\u2019Neill knows that an arduous period lies ahead.<\/p>\n He\u2019s still convinced there will be plot twists and said: \u201cThis game was always going to be difficult. Hibs are a fine side and they were unlucky not to get anything in the derby against Hearts, conceded very late on.<\/p>\n \u201cYou saw Livingston get a result against Rangers, so the games are difficult. I knew this to be. But I think it\u2019s a game we could, and on the balance of play, maybe should have won. We had a lot of possession and played a lot of good stuff and that\u2019s fine, but possession eventually doesn\u2019t win you a match.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is tough when you\u2019re in charge of the game and you are pressing and pressng and pressing, then you\u2019re likely to take a few chances at the other end.<\/p>\n \u201cEven with 10 men, we were still pressing, but the minute someone breaks the press, then you\u2019re in danger because the extra man helps. That\u2019s the nature of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Auston Trusty after being sent off(Image: Mark Runnacles\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill knows that he also has serious choices to make for the game in Germany. Although never giving anything up, a 4-1 first-leg deficit means it is highly unlikely his men are going to turn the tie around and an eye may be on Ibrox.<\/p>\n He was giving nothing away on that score after the Hibs loss and said: \u201cI\u2019ll think about that tomorrow, in terms of prioritising.\u201d<\/p>\n Celtic fans left distraught and, although they lifted the atmosphere during the match, some of that was down to news of Livingston goals against the M8 against Rangers.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill said: \u201cI didn\u2019t realise that was what they heard. I didn\u2019t know anything about the Rangers result until the end of our game.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought the support was terrific. If that\u2019s the reason for it, then it might have been. But I think the fans realise this has been a difficult season for Celtic, really diffiuclt, but we\u2019re fighting. If we show the same application we did today I think we\u2019ll still be in contention.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill also spoke about choices after the match as he gave his take on the decision to keep Kasper Schmeichel in the line-up, despite recent criticism.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cKasper has been a really fine goalkeeper. He\u2019s been a member of a side that won the Premier League and everything else.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t rest on laurels for the rest of your life, everybody movces on, but it wasn\u2019t a big, big decision for me.<\/p>\n \u201cI sat here on Thursday and said he\u2019s made big saves for us and he made a save when we were 1-0 down. So he\u2019s come out and he did fine.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the competition for places should apply to everyone, goalkeepers and outfield players, but I thought he showed some character.\u201d<\/p>\n While Schmeichel got the nod, others didn\u2019t get the nod. Although Benjamin Arthur got a debut after Trsuty\u2019s red card, fellow late-January signings Junior Adama and Joel Mvuka weren\u2019t sighted, with the latter not even in the matchday squad.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill said: \u201cI think it\u2019s just getting used to the environment. These lads have played decent grades of football before.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s the intensity here at this minute and some players, like James Forrest, have been used to that sort of intensity. We\u2019ll see. We\u2019ll definitely make a few changes for Thursday evening and we\u2019ll take it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"O\u2019Neill\u2019s men suffered the last-gasp agony to stay half-a-dozen points adrift of pacesetting Hearts Celtic manager Martin O’Neill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[71705,124828,124830,223230,140342,82409,40481,403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-485152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-celtic-fc","9":"tag-hearts-fc","10":"tag-hibernian-fc","11":"tag-james-forrest","12":"tag-martin-oneill","13":"tag-rangers-fc","14":"tag-scottish-premiership","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Auston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771825576_417_0_Celtic-v-Hibernian-William-Hill-Scottish-Premiership-Football-Celtic-Park-Glasgow-Scotland-UK.jpg\"\/)
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