Martin O’Neill goes viral after caught on camera taunting with opposition player in a way we’ve never seen before

Martin O’Neill’s dark Celtic humour comes out after ‘pathetic’ party day with epic Fozzy one liner
The Hoops boss turned 74 on the day of Sunday’s epic battle – and the fireworks followed a damp squib on the eve of his big day

The birthday bash the previous evening wasn’t up to much. Neither was the first half against Rangers.

But Martin O’Neill might has left Ibrox feeling he had something to celebrate after all.

The Irishman could have spent his 74th birthday in sightly less stressful circumstances, maybe like bungee jumping into a volcano or swimming with sharks after a shaving cut. Anything would have been more bearable than this 90 plus minutes in Govan that ended up with Celtic enjoying a minor morale boost, without being much of a points benefit.

Coming back from two down to salvage a result will always taste sweet. Whether that remains the case in the cold light of day is another matter. Either way, it was a bizarre way for O’Neill to mark his personal occasion.

He said: “Yeah, my birthday… We stayed overnight in the hotel on Saturday night. The backroom staff dimmed the lights and brought out a birthday cake. It was pathetic! The problem is, my birthday was not until midnight and I could have died between 7.30pm and 12 o’clock. Seriously! I don’t know who would have eaten the cake. Probably (Mark) Fotheringham…”

O’Neill would have preferred some more icing on top at Ibrox, but not all birthday wishes come truth. A slice of the points wasn’t a bad present in the circumstances, particularly following a first half where Celtic failed to rise to the occasion.

O’Neill said: “It was obviously a great game. We were well and truly second best in the first half, for almost all of it. They got off to a great start. The second goal wasn’t great play by us, however. It was a long way back at half-time, but this side has shown a great determination, got the ball down and played.

“The second half belonged to us and we got an equaliser which we thoroughly deserved. If you’re 2-0 down at half-time, you have to question yourself. I spend my life questioning myself, to tell you the truth. But anyway, we pulled it round second half. Great effort by the players, they’ve shown great spirit.”

O’Neill had to lift his team at the interval after that pancake flat first period. The starting line up looked suspect. The tactics even more so. Celtic were looking to lump the ball up to Junior Adamu and then feed off the scraps but they got devoured.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined the long list of experienced superstars who were left staggering around like they’d stumbled out of a baker’s oven. The former Arsenal and Liverpool ace was replaced and Celtic went back to a more familiar style of play, with the ball on the deck and moving at pace. It helped seize the momentum and give them a way back.

O’Neill said: “The general message was that despite us not being at the races in the first half we were actually still in the game, we can turn this around, the next goal becomes the most important thing. If Rangers get it it’s miles away, but if we can get the goal then we are still in the game.

“It gets us some control of the game. It’s a difficult one for Alex [Oxlade-Chamberlain]. He’s trying to get up to speed at this minute not having played. He’s a very fine footballer. It was one of those, do you play him until he gets really tired? It was just the game was so fast, in particular the first half, and I think we as a team struggled with it – the intensity of it.

“But we showed great character to fight back and the manner that we got it down and played caused them all sorts of problems. We seemed to retain the ball better and when it was kicked back into our half, we got it again and circulated the ball. We deserv

There was some redemption stories on the pitch as well. Julian Araujo had a nightmare first 20-odd minutes but the crazy fog cleared and he impressed after the break. Rookie Dane Murray was culpable for the second goal when his head was spinning, but he screwed the nut back on and finished strongly.

His gaffer noticed as well as O’Neill said: “He fought back. He won a lot of big headers for us. He’s only a young kid. He’s lost two years in the game because of serious injuries. After that (start) he could have capitulated, but he didn’t do that. He showed a lot of character.”

That’s at least something no one can accuse this Celtic squad of lacking. The constant late, late shows prove it. And O’Neill gets to do it all again at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup next weekend – albeit there’s the must win Premiership trip to Aberdeen in between. What affect this one has on the quick-fire sequel, the proof will be in the pudding.

O’Neill said: “I don’t know. Probably very little. I’m saying this now and when I start to think about it, maybe it will have (an influence). We’ll have a bigger crowd too, which would be great in that aspect. The atmosphere today, even though I was getting plenty of abuse myself, which is no problem, honestly, I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t been getting it, the atmosphere for the Old Firm game, it really brought me back, honestly, it did. It was electric.

“Sunday, we’ll have a chat about it during the week, but it’s like a million miles away from me. I’m just trying to come back down, get the heart rate back down again, you know and maybe eat a bit at that birthday cake.”