“We’re Still in This!” – Martin O’Neill’s Defiant Celtic Title Rallying Cry

Martin O’Neill knows how tight this title race is. After the draw at Ibrox, he did not pretend it was over, but he refused to see it as a setback either.

At half-time, Celtic looked miles off it. Rangers had pressed them into mistakes and taken their chances. The Hoops could barely string passes together in the final third.

The second half told a different story. Celtic stepped higher up the pitch and stopped conceding territory so easily. The equaliser came because they kept forcing the issue in Rangers’ box.

Elsewhere, Hearts will have watched that result closely. A draw between the two sides chasing them keeps the gap steady. O’Neill understood that angle, but he was focused on how his team finished the match rather than how it started.

He said: (Bury Times), “I think today’s result – if you belong to Hearts – then you’ll think it’s a great result for them.

“But even so, we’re not out of it. If the game had ended at half-time, with our performance, we’d have thought ‘we’re a million miles off it’.

“Now by the end of the game, the manner that we played, particularly here at Ibrox, 2-0 down, we fight back.

“There’s still plenty of heart and desire to try and retain the championship. It’s just been a tough old struggle this season. We just have to try and dig it out.”

Celtic were stretched in midfield and slow to second balls. If Rangers had found a third, it would have been done.

Instead, Celtic changed the flow. They trusted the ball more and forced Rangers to defend closer to their own goal. That shift brought belief.

The league table still demands consistency. Aberdeen away is next and there is no margin for another slow start.

O’Neill’s message is clear. This has not been a smooth defence of the title. It has been a grind. If Celtic are to see it through, it will look more like the second half at Ibrox than the first.