Martin O'Neill might not have been at Rugby Park, but Shaun Maloney insists Celtic's absent manager was still a major inspiration. The stand-in gaffer was thrilled to see the Hoops run amok in Ayrshire and revealed O'Neill played his part in rallying the troops.
The Northern Irishman climbed out of his sick bed to give the team talk at the pre-match hotel before leaving Maloney and co to it on the sideline. O'Neill is on the mend after a 'small procedure' and a few days in hospital last week, but his team was in rude health as they romped to a five-goal win on the new-look Rugby Park pitch.
Maloney delighted to give boss something to smile about
Maloney was delighted to give the gaffer something to smile about – even while the 74-year-old was still doing his bit for the side. The Hoops no2 said: “Is he a poor patient? You’ll have to ask his wife! She’s been with him. I don’t know what he will have even like watching the game. I’ve watched games with him previously and watching our rivals’ games was difficult! So, I don’t know how he was today. We didn’t have contact during the game. He was at the team hotel and took the team meetings speaking to the players. Then he told the staff to get on with it. I’m glad we won.”
“Maybe when the fifth went in it felt less stressful, but you never feel that comfortable. It might feel different watching. I’m glad though. I’ve never experienced anything like what’s happened this week. The staff and the senior guys have been very good. I’m really pleased for the boss to get the win. The quicker we get him back the better. We’ll see how it goes day to day. He was much better today, he was in good form and he spoke to the group. His only instruction was to go and win. That’s what he does.”
O'Neill's pre-match meeting boosted players
“We had a meeting on Saturday night and it was normal, where we went through his team selection, he picks what he thinks and he asks the staff. It was pretty normal. I think it was a boost for all of us to see him. There is a real good bond between the boss and the players. I’m glad he spoke to them before we left, it had a real positive impact. It will be up to him when he feels good enough – and if the doctors are happy – then he’ll just come back in.”
O’Neill’s men were in safe hands with Maloney – and in top form. New hitman Kasper Hogh bagged the opener inside 63 seconds and completed a devastating 35-minute first-half hat-trick to open his Hoops account in devastating style. The big hitman was borderline unplayable and the Hoops were too hot to handle for Neil McCann’s men.
Five-star Celtic show leaves Maloney thrilled
Benjamin Nygren slammed in a fourth before sub Luke McCowan completed the rout late on as the champs flexed their muscles. Maloney admitted he was thrilled with the five-star showing. He said: “It was good – really good. The players were really impressive but probably the most impressive thing was the mentality. We started full throttle and never really came off it. It’s been a tough week for everyone but they were really good. I was really pleased with the creative part. There was a period of five or 10 minutes when it felt 50/50 and Viljami Sinisalo made a good save. But we are still creating and I enjoyed that. The platform came from the work without the ball, we worked very hard out there. It’s set a standard and we have to reach that in every game.”
Frontman Hogh is heading for instant hero status with the Celtic support. The big Dane missed a few chances on his debut against Dundee last week but was not messing about at Rugby Park. Hogh proved he is a lethal penalty-box poacher and he was thrilled to get up and running. He said: “I was so happy. I had to ask Benjamin Nygren if I could get the ball. I had never tried it before, so I'm so happy right now. Of course, (getting the early goal) that was a good feeling. But the most important thing is how we did as a team. That was a crazy good game by the team. What did we step up from Monday? Shooting practice! I also heard rumours that it was an artificial pitch before – so maybe that helped me a little bit! No, I take it one day at a time and try to do better. The team played so good today so it's also the team, respect.”
Nygren hails Hogh's impact and dedicates win to O'Neill
Nygren has been blown away by Hogh’s instant impact with Celtic and he admitted he was even happier to deliver a victory for the manager as he recuperates at home. He said: “It was very important (to win). As you all know, he's been in the hospital, but now I know he's a lot better. We saw him before the game, so he wished us all the best. I think he feels even better now. I thought the last game, against Dundee, especially second-half, we played well. Last time, we created more chances to score more than one goal. We created even more here and I think we could've scored even more goals as well. So it was a brilliant performance today I think. I'm so happy for Kasper.”
