Martin O’Neill continues to charge forward with Celtic, as he masterminded another late, late show.
In previous matches, Dundee and Livingston have been the victims of Celtic. This time it was Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Celtic beat Kilmarnock 3-2 on Sunday, with Sebastian Tounekti, Benjamin Nygren and Julian Araujo getting on the scoresheet, as the champions of Scotland came from 2-0 down to secure maximum points.
O’Neill hailed the Hoops’ ‘spirit’ after the match, including the impact Tounekti made after he brought him on at half-time.
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Martin O’Neill hails Sebastian Tounekti after Celtic beat Kilmarnock
The opening 45 minutes from Celtic were woeful, and it resulted in O’Neill making three changes at the break.
The Celtic boss admitted that his team were ‘very poor’, but he thinks it was a ‘wonderful’ second half display.
It all started with Tounekti whipping the ball into the top corner after 56 minutes, as O’Neill told BBC Radio Scotland (15/02/26) that the winger is now ‘rising to the occasion’ in the famous green and white colours.
“It was a wonderful second-half performance by us,” said O’Neill. “But I thought we were very poor in the first half.
“As a team defending, we weren’t that good. Then, when we had it, we gave it away, at times. But the second half was totally different.
“We came out with renewed energy. Renewed spirit. We made some changes at half-time. Then Seb scored this wonderful goal for us, and put us right back in the game. It culminated in winning the match.
“He’s (Sebastian Tounekti) having a really good time now. We made some changes. He was a substitute, but what an impact he has made.
“In the last few weeks, he has risen to the occasion, and he has been terrific.”
O’Neill’s warning to Celtic after another late win
There is no better feeling in football than to score a late winner. That’s from a player, coach and supporters’ perspective.
But equally, it’s not very healthy and perhaps papers over the team not being able to produce the goods over the course of the 90 minutes.
That was suggested by O’Neill, who warned his players that they simply can’t keep going down this road, as they have done during this past week.
“You can’t keep doing this, you can’t keep doing that,” responded O’Neill on Celtic scoring late goals. “We have to put in the full 90 minutes, and you might get your reward, or you might not.
“But you can’t play in little spurts like that and hope that something comes at the end. The spirit the players have shown has been absolutely fantastic.”
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