Martin O’Neill praised Daizen Maeda after his relentless showing against Falkirk, and the Celtic manager believes he may finally have shaken the disappointment of a potential move away from the club being stymied last summer out of his system.
Maeda swept the player of the season awards last term after a stunning campaign, but has looked a shadow of that man for the most part during this term, something O’Neill thinks may be down to a proposed move to Wolfsburg collapsing at the 11th hour during the summer transfer window.
He looks to have come alive though as Celtic enter the final straight of an epic title race with Hearts and Rangers, and O’Neill is delighted that his forward appears to finally be back in the old routine.
"It's a big win,” O’Neill said.
“Daizen, who was fantastic throughout the game, gets us a goal out of nothing and continues to play brilliantly through the course of the match.
"[He was] terrific. Last week, he gets a goal out of nothing from closing down. His closing down is amazing. Even in the 85th minute, he closes someone down. I thought he was brilliant.
“I was pleased the one that he missed was actually offside, otherwise I'd have killed him! No, you couldn't have done that today to him.
"It may well have been that move to the Bundesliga may have affected him at the time. Maybe he thought he was all set up - or so I believe, I wasn't here at the time. I think he had maybe done his job here and felt 'well, maybe I deserve to go to the Bundesliga'.
“And when it didn't happen, and apparently it may have been at the 11th hour, [so] there will be a natural disappointment. I'm only putting that out - it may not be that at all - but he's come roaring back.
“He deserves any accolades that have been bestowed on anyone over the past few weeks.”
What was also pleasing for O’Neill was the atmosphere within Celtic Park, with a unity on display that has been conspicuous by its absence for the most part during this tumultuous campaign.
“I think the support we got was terrific,” he said.
“They stayed with the team when there were moments of anxiety which I thought we showed for a little period of time and which could have spilled over into the crowd.
“They stayed with us which was fantastic.”
The win over Falkirk moved Celtic level on points with Hearts at the top of the table, temporarily at least, with the league leaders taking on Edinburgh rivals Hibs on Sunday afternoon, while Rangers – a point further back - host Motherwell at Ibrox.
With the race so tight, O’Neill was relieved to just get the three points after what was a far from straightforward encounter with John McGlynn’s men, with the performance a secondary concern.
And now, he hopes the pressure will be transferred to their direct rivals for the Premiership crown.
"Well, we've won, which is important,” he said.
“We'll see how things develop. Of course we'll watch the games tomorrow. At the end of it all, we still have to win the game.
“Our mindset has to be that we cannot afford to drop a point. That's what was pleasing about today. At a stage when Falkirk made it 2-1, the game is in balance. We got the goal and saw it through.
“It was tough. I thought if there was a hangover from Falkirk [from their Scottish Cup semi-final defeat], they didn't show it. They came out and played on an immaculate pitch. They've got one or two players who can definitely play a bit.
“I felt in the first half after we got the goal, we were striving to get the second one and it was a bit like basketball.
“We have a tough task next week [against Hibs]. Honestly, we can only treat each week on its merit. We have been battling strongly, We showed some fine play today, made some mistakes which could have been costly. There was a short period where it looked like we were losing control.
“But we got a grip of that and the introduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain brought a calmness to us.
“In terms of momentum, I don’t know. We are still a long way from home.”
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