Celtic star Matt O’Riley, a bargain signing from League One side MK Dons in January, is adamant that he and his teammates won’t get distracted by the thoughts of a clean sweep this season as he promises to focus on one game at a time as Celtic enter the tail end of the season with plenty of silverware still up for grabs.
The midfielder insists that even though a potential triple header against rivals theRangers is on the horizon, after adding a cup semi-final to the mix on top of the two remaining league games, Celtic’s sole focus is on Saturday’s encounter with Ross County as his side aim to keep their fantastic domestic record rolling.
“Everyone is aware of it at the back of our minds, and that has to be the main goal. But if you look at it from that point of view you can get distracted from the task ahead – which is Ross County,” O’Riley told the media ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Premiership match against Ross County at Celtic Park that gives the Hoops a chance to open up a six points gap over theRangers and put significant pressure in their weary legs the next day at Dens Park after their Europa League encounter in Belgrade this evening.
Remember if they get through – and they have an albeit fortuitous 3-0 advantage from the first leg – they will be in Europa League action on the Thursday night before the Scottish Cup semi-final meeting with Celtic on Easter Sunday. None of that concerns Matt O’Riley who this week was called up the Denmark Under 21 squad after his outstanding start to his time at Celtic.
Remember too that we were going to sign that Australian midfielder instead but he opted for Middlesbrough where he has had injury problems and has been unable to contribute with the English club noting that they’re going to have him fit just in time for him to head off to the World Cup qualifiers with Australia.
“You are better off if you stay in the moment and focus on game by game,” Matt O’Riley noted. “It feels good to be in the semi-final. The vibe in the changing room is good, everyone is happy. I thought we managed the game well overall the other night.
“We were pretty calm when we saw the draw, to be honest. We have Ross County on Saturday to focus on, so we’re not thinking too much about it. We’ll take every game as it comes.”
The current run Celtic are on domestically is the reason they have been able to turn a 6 point deficit into a 3 point lead that can double on Saturday as O’Riley and his teammates turned on the style post Christmas. Recently however the performances became a bit more of a grind and this was noted amongst the players and management, and O’Riley feels they have now rectified the problems.
The 21-year-old said: “We spoke about it. I think the level dropped a little bit performance wise. It can happen for whatever reasons. There’s been a lot of games this season already. But we rectified it quickly. The training standards have always been really high.
“As long as we drive that every day it will translate on to the pitch. Attitude is important. The manager has said our off-the-ball work rate will win us games and we showed that the other night. We worked really hard as a team and when we do that we are a hard team to beat.”
O’Riley also discussed his admiration for club captain Callum McGregor. He revealed that the Scotland international went out of his way to welcome him to the club back in January and that even though he only knew him for a short period of time he wasn’t surprised that he lined out against theRangers only days after receiving a serious facial injury against Alloa in the Scottish Cup.
Matt said: “Yeah. It wasn’t a game he was going to miss was it? He does bring that assurance and calmness to the team, a real presence. He’s been involved in so many games so having him there is so important.
“He’s top. On my first day he welcomed me really nicely so from that moment on I could see he was a proper man, a proper guy. He steps up every day in training. He always drives it, aways demands the best from himself and everyone else. He’s a proper captain.”
O’Riley comes across extremely well everytime I hear him speak and yet again he has impressed here. It was a fantastic piece of business getting the 21 year old for a knock down fee in January and the player has really blossomed since he arrived at Parkhead. It’s great to see his brave decision to turn down other suitors down south and pick Celtic has been rewarded so quickly by being called up into the Danish Under-21 set up by Morten Wieghorst.
Hopefully by the end of the season he will have a couple of winners medals to treasure and reassure him that the move to Glasgow was definitely the right choice.
Conall McGinty
