Celtic Edge St Johnstone: O’Neill's Concerns Echo
Celtic took the points. They did not take the praise.
A 1–0 win over St Johnstone on Wednesday kept their Scottish Premiership campaign on track, yet Martin O’Neill walked away from Celtic Park sounding more concerned than content. His team dominated almost every metric that matters, except the one that should have made the evening comfortable: the scoreline.
They held 60% of the ball. They racked up an expected goals tally of 2.22 to St Johnstone’s 0.77. They fired 15 shots, 9 on target. One goal. Just enough, but nowhere near what their manager expected.
The performance left O’Neill unimpressed, and one selection call framed the entire night: Camilo Durán started on the bench.
O’Neill Rolls the Dice on Durán
Durán’s omission from the XI was the talking point before a ball was kicked. The Colombian has been one of Celtic’s standout performers since arriving from Qarabag in the summer for €5.5 million, yet O’Neill decided to see how his side would cope without him from the start.
After the match, speaking to Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, O’Neill didn’t hide from the experiment or its outcome. The decision, he admitted, was deliberate – and revealing.
“(Camilo) Durán doesn't start for us. He's just been class, and he looked tired in the game against St Mirren,” O’Neill said, explaining why he had finally given the forward a breather. The manager praised Durán’s relentless contribution “both with the ball, which is terrific, and also the work that he does off it.”
Then came the line that will echo around the dressing room.
“He's second only to Daizen (Maeda) in terms of closing players down. So I wanted to try and see if we could do without him, and the answer is probably not.”
The message could hardly be sharper. Celtic tried to live without Durán. They didn’t like what they saw.
Numbers That Demand Respect
Durán’s form makes O’Neill’s conclusion easy to understand. This season, the Colombian has matched his appearances with direct goal contributions: 9 games, 9 returns. Six goals and three assists spread across the Premiership, League Cup and Champions League qualifiers have turned him into one of the first names on the teamsheet.
He has not padded those numbers in dead rubbers, either. On September 2 against Aberdeen, Durán scored and set up another. Three days later against St Mirren, he added an assist. He played 83 and 75 minutes in those matches respectively, doing the heavy running O’Neill referenced. Against St Johnstone, he had just 17 minutes to influence the contest.
Those 17 minutes only underlined the point. Celtic carried more threat with him on the pitch, more edge in the press, more bite between the lines. O’Neill’s gamble – rest the man who never stops running – ended with a narrow win and a clear conclusion: this team leans heavily on its new No. 9.
Wastefulness Raises the Stakes
For all the control, Celtic’s lack of ruthlessness turned a routine home fixture into an unnecessarily fraught one. With the volume of chances created, the scoreline should have stretched, the anxiety should have eased, and O’Neill should have been able to rotate with confidence.
Instead, the game stayed tight, the crowd restless, and the manager’s post-match tone turned sharp. The forwards, in particular, will know those comments about Durán were aimed at them as much as they were about him. If the Colombian is the standard, others need to rise to it.
O’Neill’s verdict – “the answer is probably not” – reads less like a throwaway line and more like a warning. Celtic’s attacking unit has depth on paper. On the pitch, Durán’s absence still leaves a visible gap.
Derby Double and a European Test
Any complacency this display might have encouraged has been firmly stamped out, and the timing matters. Celtic now walk into a defining stretch of September.
First comes Rangers on Sunday, September 13, in the Scottish League Cup quarterfinals. A few days later, on September 17, they welcome Ferencvaros in the opening round of the UEFA Europa League group stage. Then, on September 20, it’s Rangers again in the Premiership.
Three high-stakes matches in eight days. Two Old Firm derbies that can tilt the domestic narrative. A European opener that can set the tone for the group.
They will face that run without Yang Hyun-jun, who departs to join South Korea at the Asian Games. One more attacking option gone. One more reason Durán’s fitness and form become non‑negotiable.
Celtic beat St Johnstone. The table will show three points, a clean sheet, a routine home win. O’Neill’s reaction tells a different story: this performance will not be enough when Rangers arrive, when Ferencvaros test their nerve, when the season’s first real storms hit.
The experiment without Camilo Durán has been run. Celtic know the answer. Now the question is whether the rest of the squad can close that gap before the derbies decide the early shape of their season.
