It was a great day apart from my s**t penalty
Relieved O’Riley admits his spot-kick was a balls-up
EVEN a botched penalty couldn’t keep the smile from Matt O’Riley’s face yesterday.
The Celtic midfielder produced an awful effort from the spot – and admits he should have had more BALLS to bury Rangers by making it 3-1 in the derby.
But it didn’t matter as the Hoops racked up another Old Firm win – and put one hand on the Premiership trophy.
In Brendan Rodgers’ midfield, O’Riley and skipper Callum McGregor were outstanding yet again.
It’s often where these games are won and the pair of them dominated Gers.
O’Riley’s opener set the tone and when John Lundstram scored an own goal, Celtic were in the driving seat.
The Danish international should have got them over the line with a penalty early in the second half after he was tripped by Mo Diomande.
But a Jack Butland save made it more nervous than it needed to be for Rodgers’ men, who held on for a priceless win.
O’Riley, a Player of the Year candidate this season, was delighted with their display – except his miss from 12 yards.
He said: “It’s very important for us. Two games left, six points clear.
“But we probably made it a little bit hard for ourselves again and I probably added to that with a pretty s**t penalty.
“But other than that it was good. It was important to get the goal when we did.
“I had a free- kick before that and another effort from outside the box so was finding my range – and luckily one went in. I was thinking too much with
the penalty. I practised spot-kicks on Friday and probably got caught in two minds, so that’s more for me to learn from. I won’t do that again.
“I had a plan and was waiting for him [Butland] to move but he stayed up for quite a long time.
“I probably just needed slightly bigger balls than I showed there.”
The pressure was made even more intense by a time-consuming VAR check following the incident when Diomande had brought down the Dane.
The Hoops star said: “I was confused because I thought that it was a really obvious penalty.
“I got clipped. I don’t know if VAR tried to overturn it but I thought it was quite strange.
“But there are no excuses when you
I got caught in two minds. I just needed slightly bigger balls than I showed there MATT O’RILEY ADMITS HE OVERTHOUGHT PENALTY
miss a penalty. We created a lot of good chances, we just need to be a little bit more ruthless.
“With the goal, it was one of those moments when you aren’t really thinking much.
“My touch was good. It put me in the right place and I knew there was a bit of space to the keeper’s left.
“I struck it well and was pretty confident it was going in.
“The scenes at the end were nice. A lot of the time it feels like relief because you [haven’t won the title] yet but you’ve put yourself in a good position to finish it off.”
In his time at the club O’Riley has learned what these games mean to supporters, especially with the title on the line. But he also knows that when the big derbies come round, it’s usually Celtic who turn up – particularly his side-kick McGregor.
He said: “We were really intense from the start.
“The press was really good and we took our chances in the first half.
“These are games where you need to win – and we did that. That’s the main thing.
“Listen, you represent Celtic and you know the weight that comes with that. It’s a massive club that means a lot to so many people.
“I try not to look at it as a weight. I try to look at it more from an enjoyment perspective.
“You can bring a lot of love and joy into people’s lives if things go well especially. We try to express ourselves on the pitch and that usually makes people smile.
“I think today was the perfect day for that.
“I thought Callum was our man of the match.
“Daizen Maeda was great as well with his work-rate, considering he has been injured for a while.
“He has come back quicker than most other people ever should because he’s a robot!
“But Cal is just great. He always turns up for these games especially.
‘ That’s when you need your captain at his best.
“We can always rely on him.
“We always come alive towards the end of the season especially.
“That’s when it matters. We’ve got a lot of big characters in the changing room, which obviously helps drive us in these final moments.
“Everyone is still feeling really calm, which is the most important thing.”
O’Riley believes their unbeaten record against Rangers in the league this season bodes well for them in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden on May 25.
He said: “It sets us up well for the cup final, definitely.
“The confidence is there for sure. I don’t think you can look back at games too much and take them with you because every one of them poses different challenges.
“When it comes to that game we’ll study them like we always do and go into it with an open mind.”