Matt O’Riley hails Hoops squad depth as ‘pretty crazy’ with treble up for grabs

Matt O’Riley described the depth of Celtic’s squad as “pretty crazy” as the Hoops stand on the brink of securing the domestic treble.

The Viaplay Cup winners clinched the cinch Premiership title last Sunday with a 2-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle and only Scottish Cup final opponents Inverness from the Championship stand between Ange Postecoglou’s side and the clean sweep.

The Hoops’ prowess was reflected in the PFA Scotland nominations for player of the year, where Motherwell striker Kevin van Veen is the only non-Celtic player among the four nominees, with Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and last year’s winner Callum McGregor representing the Hoops.

O’Riley is nominated for young player of the year along with team-mate Liel Abada, Rangers midfielder Malik Tillman and Albion Rovers striker Charlie Reilly.

With a nod to Celtic players like Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers, who may well consider themselves unlucky not to have been nominated, the Parkhead midfielder said: “Our depth is pretty crazy to be honest.

“We have boys who are very good players who are not even making the bench.

“That is a tough position for them to be in but it also shows that competition is really, really high.

“That comes from the training pitch every day. If we win a game 5-0 the training the next day will still be at a very high level and I think the standard we have set in terms of pushing each other every day definitely helps us.”

As well as highlighting the work ethic of the squad, O’Riley also talked up the personality of the Celtic dressing room.

He said: “First and foremost, everyone in our group is a nice person.

“We don’t have anyone in the team who is going to step out of line or if anyone does step out of line the slightest bit they will get told and will be back together on the same page.

“I think that is probably the main message, that we are just good people.

“When you work with good people it is more enjoyable and naturally you are going to work hard for each other.”

The Hoops travel to Ibrox on Saturday as champions for the final Old Firm game of the season which, for “safety and security” reasons, will be played in front of home fans only.

O’Riley said: “I would be looking forward to it even if we weren’t league champions and the fact that we also don’t have our fans there will be a unique experience but it should be fun.

“Even when our fans are in the stadium there are still hundreds of thousands if not millions watching on TV.

“Obviously we would like them there but we are not too bothered in the sense that the motivation levels will still be high and if you are not up for a Rangers game there is probably something wrong with you.”