Martin O’Neill insists Celtic are ‘still in’ the title race after Old Firm draw

Martin O’Neill inisists Celtic are “still in” the Scottish Premiership title race after their thrilling 2-2 comeback draw against Rangers at Ibrox gave leaders Hearts a boost.

Danny Rohl’s side raced into a two-goal interval lead through terrific counters from striker Youssef Chermiti.

But, in a remarkable second-half turnaround, a header from Kieran Tierney and a dramatic last-gasp leveller by substitute Reo Hatate  – after Gers keeper Jack Butland had saved his spot-kick and his second effort from a rebound – earned Celtic a well-deserved point.

With nine fixtures remaining for Rangers, Danny Rohl’s side are six points behind the Jambos and two ahead of Celtic, whose game in hand is a trip to Aberdeen on Wednesday night.

O’Neill, celebrating his 74th birthday, said: “I think today’s result – if you belong to Hearts – then you’ll think it’s a great result for them.

“But even so, we’re not out of it. If the game had ended at half-time, with our performance, we’d have thought ‘we’re a million miles off it’.

“Now by the end of the game, the manner that we played, particularly here at Ibrox, 2-0 down, we fight back.

“There’s still plenty of heart and desire to try and retain the championship. It’s just been a tough old struggle this season. We just have to try and dig it out.”

O’Neill believes his side showed their character to emerge with a point and believes they could have taken more from their Old Firm rivals.

He said: “It was lovely to come out and get something. We could easily have won it in the end.

“Luke (McCowan) says he maybe should have scored. I haven’t seen very many things back. First-half, totally Rangers. Second half, totally us.

“I think if you had told me at half-time that we would get out of this with