The Last Word With Tony Connelly

I USUALLY spend a couple of minutes thinking about what to include in the column when I’m asked, but there’s no shortage of news to reflect on from this past week.

- Tony Connelly

As the manager pointed out in his post-match press conference at Ibrox on Sunday, Celtic were essentially written off going into the first Glasgow derby of the season.

The widespread prognostication of a Celtic defeat seemed irrational. Going into the game, Celtic had convincingly won all three of the opening Premiership fixtures, scoring 15 goals along the way.

There’s a lot of time and hard work that goes into attaining those results, and the opposition hadn’t shown anything near that kind of form so far this season, so the underdog label was not only unfounded, but ignorant of the achievements that Neil Lennon, the backroom staff and the players are responsible for.

THE hype in the lead up to the derby and the disdain towards Celtic’s ability on the pitch only made the 2-0 win all the sweeter.

Our city neighbours also qualified for the Europa League group stages last week, and the ‘Welcome to the party’ hashtag, which they’ve been using this season, was amped up ahead of the first meeting with Celtic.