Martin O’Neill has revealed the exact moment he finally believed Celtic were about to win the Premiership title against Hearts
It came moments before Callum Osmand scored the clinching third goal.
The dramatic afternoon at Celtic Park was filled with tension right until the closing seconds as Hearts pushed desperately for the point that could still have won them the title.
Given Celtic had already conceded from a corner earlier in the match through Lawrence Shankland, every late set-piece delivered into the box carried serious danger.
So when Hearts threw the goalkeeper forward for a last-gasp corner deep into stoppage time, Celtic supporters were holding their breath.
But after the Hoops cleared the danger, the ball suddenly broke forward with Hearts completely exposed.
Three Celtic players burst through into the empty half with no goalkeeper in sight, moments before Osmand rolled the ball into the net to seal the title in extraordinary scenes.
And O’Neill admits that was the point where belief finally kicked in.
Speaking on Wednesday as attention turned towards this weekend’s Scottish Cup Final, the Celtic boss said:
“Well the first moment I thought that we were going to win is when three of our players were running with the ball up the field and no Hearts goalkeeper in sight.
“I felt, yeah, this is it.
“So that was a fantastic moment, obviously the winning goal, waiting for the clarification before that for us to make it 2-1.
“The concerns then after that about Hearts getting an equalising goal and just the scenes were amazing, absolutely amazing, surreal for me.”
The final moments perfectly captured the chaos and emotion of Celtic’s season.
From being written off before the split to eventually overturning Hearts on the final day, O’Neill somehow guided the Hoops to a fifth consecutive league title after one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent memory.
