MARTIN O’NEILL has the opportunity to seal a spectacular silverware double as the final curtain comes down on a rollercoaster season at Hampden tomorrow afternoon.
Intriguingly, the Celtic interim manager will go head to head with his former Hoops skipper Neil Lennon when the champions take on Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup showcase – just one week after clinching a fifth successive title in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
Until the 87th minute of the decider at Parkhead last weekend, the crown was heading to Tynecastle for the first time since 1960.
Hearts, who had led the league for a chunk of the campaign, were holding on for a 1-1 draw which would have been enough to snatch the trophy from its home in the east end of Glasgow where it had comfortably resided for the previous four years.
FIELD OF DREAMS…Martin O’Neill talks to Celtic TV at Hampden, the venue for tomorrow’s Scottish Cup Final encounter against Dunfermline.
Daizen Meada then pounced to turn in a sweeping low cross from Callum Osmand for the hosts’ second goal and, in an instant, the green and white ribbons were being prepared once more to adorn the imposing trophy, as they had done in fourteen of the previous 15 years.
Osmand then raced clear to stroke No.3 over the line – and the rest is history.
Now the Scottish Cup – last won by O’Neill TWENTY-ONE years ago – is within his grasp for the fourth time and the Irishman acknowledged his players will not understimate the second-tier opposition who have already knocked out three Premiership sides to reach this stage.
Cup holders Aberdeen, Hibs and Falkirk have all fallen against Lenny’s Fifers and O’Neill is determined Celtic are not added to that list.
The 74-year-old gaffer said: “It would be fantastic if we could do it.
“It was so many years ago since my last Scottish Cup Final that you’d have got long odds on me leading a team out against Neil Lennon’s side – he would have been in the line-up that won the last Cup when I was involved.
FRIENDLY RIVALS…Celtic legends Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon will go head to head in the silverware showdown at Hampden tomorrow afternoon.
“I’m really looking forward to the match, the pitch looks really good and there’s just a bit of excitement about it.
“It’ll be a big challenge indeed. Dunfermline have already knocked out three Premiership teams along the way, so they deserve to be here.
“I remember Neil saying after the penalty shoot-out against Falkirk in the semi-final that it was attritional.
“They got there and that’s the point – they made it to the Final – and we could have been out of the competition against Dundee.
“We scored a goal in the very last minute and then won the game in extra-time, so there have been twists and turns the whole way through.”
O’Neill, speaking to Celtic TV at the venue for the grand finale, continued: “We’ve got to be right for the game, we’ve had a great couple of days and it’s been fantastic since Saturday evening.
“It’s been really fantastic, but now it’s total concentration on the game, which I believe the players, having come this far, will want to finish it.
“The players are really up for the game. There’s a strong mood in the camp wanting to do it and not let people down. The euphoria of last Saturday has definitely hung around for a few days, which you would expect.”
UP FOR THE CUP…Martin O’Neill and the glittering prize.
The veteran coach added: “There’s a difficulty in accepting the fact that we won it.
“Of course, everybody outside our own diaspora and probably part of Edinburgh , wanted Hearts to win because it’s a great story, a great fable and things like that.
“But at the end of the day, we’ve come from nowhere to win it. We did it and we deserved to win it because we finished on top.
“It’s one of the really great stories in our history and now we want to try and finish it off here.
“We’ll get a really great crowd at the game. The crowd will be coming in expectation so we have to be ready for that challenge as well – the challenge of expecting to win the game.
“And we have to take that on board.”
O’Neill and his players have responded in the dismal aftermath of Wilfried Nancy’s 33 catastrophic days in charge when the team lost six of his eight games.
The memory of the awful performance in the 3-1 loss to St Mirren in the Premier Sports League Cup Final on December 14 can now be eclipsed with success tomorrow.
Go to it, Celtic!
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