Banishing anxiety and restoring confidence – Martin O’Neill’s Celtic return

Hearts’ draw in Paisley, coupled with Celtic’s victory, narrows the gap at the summit of the table to six points.

It was perfunctory, but after the week the defending champions have had, that’s exactly what they needed.

Next is an altogether different challenge, with Rangers and a League Cup semi-final lying in wait at Hampden on Sunday.

Celtic entered the game with an intent. There’s been flashes of that, but not with anywhere near the same intensity that has been seen prior to this season.

Twenty six shots were aimed towards Scott Bain’s goal on Wednesday, 11 found the target, two hit the woodwork. They made 119 successful final third passes, too.

In Kenny, they’ve got a forward who is grasping the opportunity gifted to him.

His two goals were instinctive, while a third really should have been added in the second half.

“That’s been at Celtic for quite a considerable time, getting the ball forward quickly,” O’Neill told Celtic TV.

“Sometimes we played it and we played it too quickly, it’s fine. As long as there’s an end product. We’ll see how we can come out of the game.

“As it turns out, even at my age I’m learning about players. I’m learning some of our players are really good.”

The interim manager joked on Wednesday that if Falkirk doesn’t go to plan, he won’t be there for Sunday.

So, mission accomplished. If he completes his next one, O’Neill can expect to be asked about his future plans a fair bit more.