Celtic clamber into Martin O'Neill's dreams as boss reveals only time he has doubted his team

Manager tells team to end tough season on a high with a double

Martin O’Neill’s message to his Celtic players on Sunday afternoon is loud and clear: keep the double dream alive.

That may sound slightly underwhelming given Celtic supporters have recently been nourished on trebles, but this has been a season of turbulence for the club. Three managers, disunity in the stands, board-room shake-ups and a dual domestic threat from Hearts and Rangers.

Celtic definitely have six games left to salvage this season - potentially seven if they defeat St Mirren at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-finals. The Premier Sports Cup is gone after losing to the Buddies back in December, but despite a poor league campaign by their standards, the defending champions are just three points off top spot going into the post-split matches.

O’Neill hit a nadir last month when he watched his team meekly lose 2-0 away at Dundee United at Tannadice. However, narrow wins over Dundee (2-1) and St Mirren (1-0) have breathed fresh optimism into the 74-year-old.

“Oh, I think that's it,” concurred O’Neill with the notion that his Celtic players have to eye a glory double. “I can't look that far forward in the terms of the games, but yeah, if there was an overall message to the side, that's it.

“You can do it. We're still in it. One way or another, we've clambered our way into it. After Dundee United, you think, it's a long way away. We were poor that day but we got the win at Dundee, followed it up here, so yeah, we're still in it. We're still in it, we're still fighting for it, which is great.”

Asked if such success would feel extra special given all the club has been through, O’Neill smiled. “Oh, yeah, but I wouldn't be thinking about that at this moment,” he said. “Know all those dreams that never come true ...”

At the start of this season, two trophies might have been seen as the bare minimum. But so much has gone wrong. Substandard recruitment, missing out on the Champions League, the resignation of Brendan Rodgers as manager and the disastrous 33-day Wilfried Nancy tenure. O’Neill has steadied the ship not once but twice while dealing with unrest and injuries to key players.

“The only time that I really doubted us all, including myself, was Dundee United,” continued O’Neill. “Just second half, we just couldn't get going. Didn't look as if we were going to create anything in the game, and that was the worry. But they came back against Dundee, stuck it out, could have crumbled at one each, Dundee having the next 10 minutes to themselves as well.

”We've gone through a bit of adversity, and they're still fighting on and in fairness to the players, they've seen a lot of changes. Three managers, well, if you include my two spells, four managers, but three certainly.

“And used to a certain style, this is one of the points that we're making here, used to a certain style, me coming in and not changing, not changing too much, but maybe wanting to change something that maybe suited me, but refraining from that.

“Then new manager coming in for a number of games, wanting to have his own style, that's fine, then reverting back to me again. So yeah, they've had a season in the dressing room. Not that I feel a great deal of sympathy for players in general, I don't. But for these boys here, you're dead right, they've shown a bit of spirit.”

Scottish Cup record of envy

Celtic can draw some strength from O’Neill’s Scottish Cup record. He’s won the trophy three times. The route to Hampden this time hasn’t been plain sailing, however. Non-league Auchinleck Talbot made life tricky at Rugby Park, a stoppage-time goal from Junior Adamu helped them squeeze past Dundee and then they defeated Rangers on penalties at Ibrox. This would be a well-earned final given St Mirren have been tough opposition this season.

"I think that the Scottish Cup is traditionally, it's still a brilliant competition,” said O’Neill. “I certainly think that the FA Cup in England has lost a lot of its lustre, which is a real shame. Because of, like, no replays, stuff like that. It gets pushed to the side almost, early on.

“And the days of listening to waiting for the third-round draw, like on a Monday morning, all those things are gone but that is just me.

“I think the tradition in Scotland is you want to win it. You want to try and win and so you go as strong as you possibly can. An earlier round, where it did make changes, you know, against Auchinleck Talbot, playing on the plastic pitch, in our first round, that game worried me to death.

“Because I wanted to see what a couple of players were capable of doing, but I didn't want to disrespect the competition, I wanted to get through. And I was really worried beforehand. We managed to win, not convincing at all in the game.

“I made a mistake after Liverpool when we beat Liverpool in 2003, and we had ten changes, because we played on a Thursday night, went up to Caledonian Thistle, and that's a big regret. Scottish Cup, made the changes, didn’t think (the ones rested) would have the energy and we got beat.

“That's just me. We've also seen, it used to happen in the League Cup down south, but I've seen managers fielding weakened teams in the FA Cup in England. There is a kind of authenticity about the Scottish Cup which has remained.”

The old trophy remains Celtic’s best chance of silverware - and could frame the run-in for a desperately challenging season.