“It’s a big win for us. Daizen Maeda was fantastic,” Martin O’Neill

Daizen Maeda celebrates during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on April 25, 2026. (Photo by Zak Mauger/Getty Images)

Q: How much of a boost is it to have Daizen Maeda in that sort of form going into the run-in?

Martin O’Neill: “Terrific, really. Last week he gets a goal from nothing as well too, just closing down. But his closing down is amazing really, even in the 85th minute here he closes somebody down right in the corner, about 15 yards from the corner and that’s in the 85th minute. His goals, I thought he was brilliant. And I was pleased the one that he missed was actually offside. Otherwise it would have killed him.

Daizen Maeda misses (but it’s offside) during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on April 25, 2026. (Photo by Zak Mauger/Getty Images)

Q: People say he has had a drop off from last season, and tailed off this season, what has brought him to life again?

Martin O’Neill: “I think it may well have been that maybe that move to the Bundesliga may have affected him. At the time maybe he thought he was all set up for it, or so I believe, I wasn’t here but only picking up from what I’ve heard. And that obviously I think maybe thought he had done his job here and felt well maybe I deserve to go into the Bundesliga. And when it didn’t happen, and apparently it might even have been in the 11th hour or something I guess here of course, the natural disappointment. I’m only putting that out to it, it may not be that at all. But he’s come roaring back, he’s great and he deserves any accolades that have been bestowed on anyone for the last two weeks. He certainly deserves them.”

Yang Hyun-Jun of Celtic shoots, as Nicky Hogarth of Falkirk attempts to make the save during the Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on April 25, 2026. (Photo by Zak Mauger/Getty Images)

Q: Martin, is that precisely the kind of pressure you wanted to put on Rangers and Hearts before they played this weekend?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, we’ve won, which is important. I was asked the question beforehand, if you could win, take advantage of it, then you’ll see how things develop. Of course I’ll watch the games tomorrow but at the end of it all you still have to win the game. And because we’ve won, yeah, I think let’s have a look. But for us, I think the mindset has to be that we cannot afford to drop a point. And that’s what was pleasing about today. At a stage when Falkirk made it 2-1, the game is in the balance. So we got the goal and saw it through.”

Q: There seemed to be a very concerted effort within the stadium today, of a show of unity and collective drive to sort of take you towards this title?

Martin O’Neill: “I agree with you. I think that obviously the support we got, vocal support, was terrific. I thought we stayed with the team when there were moments that I thought that that anxiety that I thought that we showed for a little period of time on the field of play could have spilled over into the crowd. But they stayed with us, which was fantastic.”

Kieran Tierney of Celtic scores his team’s second goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on April 25, 2026. (Photo by Zak Mauger/Getty Images)

Q: Martin, is Kieran Tierney okay? He had to be substituted?

Martin O’Neill: “Yeah, Kieran was. I’m hoping that he’ll be all right. I think from the knock, I think he recovered. But it was just the general fatigue with him, I think, is still causing a bit of a problem. Great goal from him as well. Great goal. Great goal from a very, very fine player.”

Q: Alistair Johnston made his return to a big ovation?

Martin O’Neill: “I thought that was amazing. Obviously, he’s very, very popular here. And there’s reasons for that because he must have done fantastically well. So that was very encouraging. I thought he did fine when he came on. And I know this week’s training will bring him on again. He’s itching to go.”

Players of Celtic acknowledge the fans following the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park Stadium on April 25, 2026 (Photo by Zak Mauger/Getty Images)

Q: Martin, do you feel momentum and everything is coming together at the right time?

Martin O’Neill: “Well, good point. I think that we’ve got a tough task next week. Honestly, we can only treat each game on its merit, really, and that’s all it is. I think that we’ve battled, we’ve been battling strongly I think we showed some fine play today. We made some mistakes in the game, which could have been costly. I thought there was a little period for 10 or 15 minutes, maybe less, it looked from where I am, remember, I’m negative, so it looked as if we were losing a bit of control. I thought that Falkirk played through us a few times, but I thought we got a grip of that.

And I think the introduction of, I know it was only for the last 15 minutes, but I thought that Alex Oxlade-Chambelain brought a calmness to us at the end of it. Just to settle us down again and take it on from there. But in terms of your point about the momentum, I don’t know. We’re still a long way from home.”

Watch Martin O’Neill’s post-match media conference from Celtic Park after the 3-1 win over Falkirk…

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