CELTIC restored their four-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership after a narrow 2-1 win at bottom club Hibs on Sunday.
Stormy conditions made for a lack of quality at Easter Road in a game that never threatened to replicate the goals or excitement of last week's 7-1 win against Hibs' city rivals Hearts.
However, after conceding an early goal through Ireland international Owen Elding, Celtic secured the points thanks to a Jason Kerr own goal and a fine strike from Camilo Duran.
The Hoops had to hold off a late surge in either half from Hibs but left the Scottish capital with three points.
However, the win came at a cost with Alistair Johnston lasting just 20 minutes into his comeback from injury having been out for almost three months.
'Better than Hearts win'
Despite failing to reach the heights of last week's victory over the Jambos, O'Neill described the Hibs win as their best of the season, coming as it did three days after the 2-1 home loss to Celta Vigo.
"I was obviously delighted to win the game. We've come from a goal behind in blustery conditions," the manager told Celtic TV.
"We'd given Hibs a big, big lift by their early goal. Thankfully, we scored pretty quickly afterwards which settled us down and we took the lead just before half-time.
"Even though we were playing generally against the wind in the second half, we saw it through.
"Considering the circumstances, considering the conditions, considering Thursday night and the game being played after a very early Sunday morning start, I felt this was our best win of the season.
"I genuinely think that Easter Road is very difficult anyway for us to go to. It doesn't matter what position they are in the league, I couldn't care less about that.
"For me, I just feel as if this was a better win than last week against Hearts."
Fans may argue against O'Neill's assessment of it being the best win of the season.
Despite the conditions, you would expect more than Celtic's four efforts on target against a side bottom of the table and with only one point from their previous six league games.
However, the elements certainly played their part, while it is often harder to face a team in the relegation spot, scrapping for every point.
Ultimately, with Celtic's inconsistent performances this season, three points here are as valuable as the three won during the eye-catching rout of Hearts.
It wasn't an Easter Road classic but every supporter will happily take a scrappy three points over a glorious failure until Celtic can settle into their rhythm again.
Duran nets again
The visitors were certainty missing a beat early on when they fell behind inside three minutes, caught cold by a quick free kick from Joe Newell.
Elding, holding his position in Celtic's defensive line, broke away as soon as Newell released the ball and with the Celtic defence napping, he arrowed past goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
However, the visitors were behind for only two minutes before Kerr put through his own net with no Celtic player near him.
Elding looked well-placed at the back post to comfortably deal with Benjamin Nygren's corner but as he jumped to head clear, so too did the backtracking Kerr, who only succeeded in nodding into his own goal.
Nygren was again involved in what would ultimately prove to be Celtic's winner just before the break, Duran scoring it despite shifting back out to the right to accommodate the returning Kasper Hogh.
It came after Hibs' best spell of the half with Elding, Josh Mulligan and Thibault Klidje going close, the latter firing over the bar with only Johnstone to beat.
Moments later, Nygren's forward pass was nicked off the toes of Callum Osmand by Marko Ivezic on the edge of the box but Duran pounced on the loose ball.
The Columbian's first touch created some space, his second dummied Kerr into a fruitless lunge and the third saw him curl it beautifully past goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger.
Duran's 10th goal of the season came in a first half that was far from a classic but the second period was further short on quality.
Hibs did rally again late on, Grant Hanley just failing to get on the end of Rabbi Matondo's deflected effort before Cameron Carter-Vickers blocked Mulligan's effort.
However, Celtic managed to see out the win, which restores their four-point lead at the top after Rangers thrashed St Johnstone 4-0 at Ibrox on Saturday.
Johnston setback and Donovan potential
Celtic didn’t come away from Edinburgh unscathed, with Canadian international Johnston lasting only 20 minutes after coming on as a substitute early in the second half.
The defender managed just 11 appearances for the Hoops last season with hamstring issues and suffered a recurrence against Kilmarnock in August in the second game of the campaign.
O'Neill said the right-back's situation will be clearer after a scan but added that he had faith in understudy Colby Donovan, who has featured 17 times this term having turned out 27 times last season.
"He [Johnston] felt something at the top of his hamstring again. It's the same hamstring as before," O'Neill told Celtic TV.
"We're not sure, we're genuinely not sure. We're obviously hoping against hope that it's not too serious.
"We'll see, we'll know in the next couple of days. He'll obviously have a scan tomorrow."
He added of Donovan: "I've got a lot of time for him, I think he's got a lot of potential.
"I did say to him that potential will remain potential if you just stay at a certain level. You've got to elevate yourself all the time.
"He will make a career in the game — how high he goes in the game will depend solely on him."
With a break from Europa League commitments this week, Celtic have back-to-back league games, hosting Dundee United on Wednesday before travelling to Falkirk next Sunday.
Everything from irishpost.com and the print edition is available on the Irish Post App — plus more! Download it for Android or Apple IOS devices today.
See More: Celtic
