KILMARNOCK, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 18: Celtic Manager Martin O'Neill during a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Auchinleck Talbot and Celtic at BBSP Stadium Rugby Park, on January 18, 2026, in Kilmarnock, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
According to Martin O’Neill Dane Murray felt the after effect of a dead leg in the warm up to Celtic’s win at Aberdeen on Wednesday.
In a season of drama and injuries both of those factors rolled the way of the defender on Wednesday night. The injury was picked up at Ibrox and flared up 180 miles away at Pittodrie.
Auston Trusty’s three match suspension created a problem for Martin O’Neill forcing the Celtic boss to juggle his limited defensive options.
DEFENSIVE GRIEF FOR MARTIN O’NEILL
Ben Arthur was sent on as a substitute to replace Trusty against Hibs, giving the defender his Celtic debut.
Murray then played well against Stuttgart, a game that the Brentford defender wasn’t eligible for.
At Ibrox Murray was culpable in the second goal lost as Celtic went in at half time looking almost dead and buried.
In just his fourth SPFL start of the season Murray could have crumbled in the second half but played a key role in Celtic recovering to take a point.
There was a price to pay. At 6.45pm Murray was named to play alongside Liam Scales at Aberdeen. At kick-off time he was in the stand watching Arthur star his first senior match.
A thigh strain was reported by the media but O’Neill has been able to provide some detail on what happened.
The Celtic boss told The Herald:
Big Dane [Murray] did fine in the games that he did, then he comes out, gives an opportunity then to big Benjamin [Arthur], who did fine in the game as well. I’ll have a wee think about that as well.
Dane, he doesn’t remember getting a dead leg. He thinks it might have happened in the Rangers game.
He doesn’t remember getting it, you think you would do, and he doesn’t. But when he had the scans done, it is like a dead leg, but it’s a wee bit deeper.
But he didn’t feel it, and the bruising is not on the surface, which it generally comes through to. It’s actually a bit deeper than that. So no, he wouldn’t be pulling out unless there was something up with him.
He’s responding really well, quicker than we’d imagine now. And I don’t know whether he’s set.
They’ve all been scanned here, and all of them have been scanned. I don’t think they have to go back for something. But listen, I do think he’s making really better progress than I would have thought from a dead leg.
O’Neill avoided giving a timeline on when Murray will be available again but it seems like days rather than weeks.
Trusty is available to play today and will probably go straight back into the Starting XI.
Arthur looked assured at Pittodrie but is likely to be back on the bench at Ibrox today.
Trusty serves the last match of his suspension against Motherwell on Saturday with O’Neill likely to have two options to play alongside Scales.
O’Neill will be hoping that the mini-drama created by Trusty’s red card will be the last of the season.
From today Celtic have only one midweek match to play. A still to be scheduled post split fixture.
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