Martin O’Neill has hit back at criticism of Celtic supporters entering the pitch after the club’s dramatic title win over Hearts, insisting the reaction to the scenes at Celtic Park has become overblown.
Saturday’s finale produced complete chaos in the closing moments as Celtic came from behind to beat Hearts 3-1 and snatch the Premiership title on the final day. Daizen Maeda’s late strike changed the entire mood inside the stadium before Callum Osmand added a third in stoppage time with Hearts pushing bodies forward desperately searching for an equaliser.
Supporters flooded onto the pitch moments later.
Hearts later described the scenes as “an embarrassment to Scottish football” while discussion continued across television and radio throughout. Jim White challenged O’Neill directly about it during an interview, repeatedly questioning whether Celtic supporters should have entered the field before the game had officially finished.
The Celtic manager instead focused on the emotion inside the stadium after weeks of pressure during the title race. Celtic had looked out of contention earlier in the season before chasing Hearts down over the closing weeks.
By the time Osmand scored, Celtic Park had completely erupted.
White pressed O’Neill several times on the pitch invasion during the interview.
He said: (talkSPORT), “The way it ended, some Celtic fans on the pitch. Hearts called it an embarrassment to Scottish football.”
O’Neill replied: “I totally disagree with that.
“There’s a lot of hyperbole.
“When we scored the third goal the game was essentially over. We’ve just won the league and the fans came onto the field.”
White then responded: “But they shouldn’t come on the pitch, Martin.”
O’Neill hit back: “Start telling that to every football club then.”
White continued: “Hearts called it an embarrassment to Scottish football.”
O’Neill added: “As they might do. I don’t believe that. It’s nonsense.”
White also raised reports that some supporters confronted Hearts players during the scenes after full-time.
O’Neill answered: “I assume the final whistle had gone at the exact same moment we scored the third goal. It’s a home game and we’ve just won the league.”
The exchange summed up how divided reaction has become since Saturday afternoon.
There is no question Celtic Park briefly lost control after Osmand’s goal as supporters poured onto the field before stewards and stadium announcements pushed fans back toward the stands.
But from O’Neill’s perspective, the scale of the reaction afterwards misses the reality of what the stadium had just witnessed. Celtic had completed one of the most dramatic title comebacks in the club’s history in the final moments of the season.
That emotion was always going to spill over somewhere.
