Celtic have secured their place in the qualifiers for next season’s Champions League by beating Hearts to the league title.
In their 14th league win in 15 years, Martin O’Neill’s men delivered an unlikely title in the most dramatic of climaxes.
Despite Hearts leading the race for 250 days, they were pipped to the top of the podium on the final day thanks to late goals from Daizen Maeda and Callum Osmand.
They can now look forward to Champions League qualifiers next season, and they have significantly increased their chances of qualification with the win.
Share us your message to Martin O’Neill, as Celtic down Hearts on the final day…
Celtic secure Champions League play-offs with title win
The Hoops will enter next season’s competition in the play-offs, the same round they did this season.
We won’t enjoy reminiscing about that, given the disastrous exit to Kairat Almaty overseen by Brendan Rodgers.
READ MORE: Martin O’Neill has a go at journo after question on Celtic scenes vs Hearts
They simply have to win that round — for which they will be seeded — and their lucrative spot in the tournament is secure.
It feels like decades away, but it’s just in three months. Of course, Celtic will have to decide on their next permanent manager before then.
You have to say that the current favourite for the role is O’Neill himself, though whether or not he fancies a permanent stay is a different question.
Asked whether Saturday’s game would be his last in the league, O’Neill said: “Well, I’ve just spoken to Dermot Desmond there and he didn’t indicate otherwise, you know?
“So, genuinely, I would imagine so, yeah.”
He continued: “It really is a massive, massive effort because when you step into the football club, Brendan resigns.
“So I go and I realise that there’s a lot of disharmony in the club for all sorts of reasons, which there’s no point in going into today.
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“You come on and you think you’ve put whatever games I had in charge, kind of steadying the ship, and Wilfried comes in, which is fine, just didn’t get to grips early enough with it.
“And then I come back again and then again, disharmony, throwing the tennis balls onto the field.
“And the most important thing to me in recent weeks was this coming together and to me, Celtic Park, in the last couple of games that we’ve been here, is reminiscent of the Celtic Park I always knew.”
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