At the end of 120 minutes of strength-sapping derby football, character and resilience play as much a part of success as the ability to slot the ball away from 12 yards. And those qualities were praised by Martin O’Neill following Celtic’s 4-2 spot-kick win over Rangers. The prize now is a trip to Hampden for the Scottish Cup semi final and it was a well-deserved achievement coming after four games on the road for the Irishman’s side. He said: “I find it hard to describe. The only thing I can think about is that the players in the dressing room afterwards, they are absolutely and utterly out on their feet. “Which is not surprising really. We’ve had four away games in 10 days and we’ve travelled to Germany. We had to play last Sunday as well, then we had to go up to Aberdeen and back, so four games in 10 days. ‘But the character in the side shone through magnificently and I thought that was the main point to take away from it.’ “The character, the blocks they put in, the defending on the edge of the penalty box, and it’s a credit to the players, it really is.” And, after all that, it went down to a penalty shoot-out, an experience for all concerned – players, supporters and managers. He added: “It’s harrowing, it’s really harrowing. You’ve gone the full distance, and you know it’s in the lap of the gods at the end of it all. “They took the penalties brilliantly, took the advantage early on, Alex scores early on for us and it sets the tone. “Hatate scores brilliantly – it didn’t take him three attempts to put the ball in the net this time!”FixturesRangers Vs. Celtic – Sun, Mar 8th 2026, 13:00
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