Martin O’Neill Admits Celtic ‘Well Beaten by Stronger Rangers’

Martin O’Neill made no attempt to dress up Celtic’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.

The Hoops crashed out of the Premier Sports Cup at the quarter-final stage after a poor afternoon in which Rangers were sharper, stronger and far more comfortable for long spells.

Dan Neil opened the scoring in the first half before Kevin Kelsy doubled the lead after the break. Neil then struck again to make it 3-0 and end any hope of a Celtic comeback.

Speaking after the game, O’Neill was clear in his assessment.

He said: (BBC Sport), “We were well beaten on the day.”

There was little argument with that.

Celtic never really found a way to impose themselves on the match and spent too much of the afternoon reacting to Rangers.

O’Neill admitted the final score reflected the way the game had gone.

“Eventually, the 3-0 scoreline doesn’t hide it and it was a tough afternoon for us.”

The defeat was Celtic’s first major domestic setback of the season and came in a game where they struggled to cope with Rangers’ intensity from the opening stages.

There were chances to hurt the home side on the break, particularly in the first half, but Celtic failed to make enough of those moments.

At the other end, Rangers were far more ruthless.

O’Neill also accepted that the better side had won.

“They were stronger than us on the day and they deserved to win.”

That was probably the most straightforward way of summing it up.

Celtic were second best in too many areas and never managed to get enough control of the game to change its direction.

The Hoops now have to move on quickly, with another fixture coming on Thursday before Rangers travel to Celtic Park next Sunday.

There will be plenty to pick through before then, but O’Neill’s immediate verdict was clear enough.

Celtic were beaten comfortably, and he was not going to pretend otherwise.