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Martin O'Neill insists he has walked into a dressing room of WINNERS after a surreal dugout return. The champions rediscovered their sparkle as a first-half brace from Johnny Kenny plus goals from Ben Nygren and Seb Tounekti put Falkirk to bed with a scintillating 4-0 win. Club supremo Dermot Desmond - called out by fuming punters during a pre-match protest outside the front doors - watched on from the stands after a traumatic 48 hours. And returning messiah O’Neill revealed he only met the squad inherited from Brendan Rodgers hours before kick-off. He said: “It was the most surreal feeling in the world. “You’re in a coffee shop in London on Monday. The coffee was dreadful and I got the call. It was the last thing on earth that I would do another game. “I was concerned about the game and the usual thing, letting myself down but letting others down. “Coming in a bit of a whirlwind and to play in the manner we did which I thought was great and the most important thing was winning the game. The players did brilliant and I couldn’t be more pleased.” On his inspiring team talk, O’Neill admitted some of the players had no idea who he was. He said: “I said I know confidence has been a wee bit low which is the most natural thing in the world if you're not getting results and they stop doing things. “I said there are some lads who would have no idea who I was but they're only about ten and some of the other lads I said we have a number of winners in the dressing room and that's really important. Those lads have experienced lows during the season and fought back. “The captain is a real quality player but there were great performances all round. They overcame my insecurity problems. Naturally I’m delighted to win. The message was we had to win the game.” It was a dream start for the O’Neill and Shaun Maloney interim duo as Celts trimmed the gap on league leaders Hearts to six points. O’Neill had talked up the Jambos’ title chances at the start of the week but joked: “Did I say that? I was talking a lot of b******* really. Nothing has changed!” Next up is Sunday’s blockbuster Old Firm Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden. O’Neill masterminded a famous 6-2 win over Rangers in his derby debut 25 years ago. But after a whirlwind couple of days, he said: “Genuinely I haven’t thought about that. I told the players we can’t think about that until this game has been won. “I think to praise players when they’ve done well and eventually there will be criticism but they might be able to treat it better.” Irish frontman Kenny bagged a brace and may well have played his way into O’Neill’s plans against Rangers. O’Neill - who handed Daizen Maeda a late cameo on his injury comeback - said: “He did really fine. He’s learning the game and took goals like a proper striker and did really well. “The physios said Maeda would get 35 minutes or so. How they calculate that, the things I have to learn! “Physios also said to get it on the pitch. Forrest did really well considering he’s the same age as me.” Kieran Tierney was nowhere to be seen but O’Neill allayed injury fears, adding: “He’s feeling better. I saw him before the game and he’s much better than he was. He was niggling around. It was a stiffness.” Bairns boss John McGlynn had no complaints over the result and as he urged his troops to dust themselves down for Saturday’s clash with Kilmarnock. He said: “We have to move on. Saturday is more important than this game. “It was always going to be hard. We stayed in the game for 30 minutes till the goal. “Losing the third goal killed us. Celtic have that sharpness and we’re not at that level when they are. “We bin it. We won’t be competing for the top two positions in the league. “It didn’t affect us at all. They had a short period to turn it around. That was basically the same style we played against in the League Cup. “They’re too quick with their ability and that’s what happens when you pay the big bucks."
