When O’Neill took temporary charge of Celtic last month, he walked into a club rocked by internal division, highlighted by the acrimonious nature of Brendan Rodgers’ exit.

Hearts had beaten Celtic 3-1 at Tynecastle to go eight points clear, with the 73-year-old parachuted in to steady the ship.

Although they were comprehensively outplayed by Midtjylland on Thursday, O’Neill has delivered on the home front, winning all three of his matches, narrowing the league gap and reaching the Premier Sports Cup final at Rangers’ expense.

Celtic’s attack has been freed up under the Northern Irishman, with 11 goals scored in those games.

The champions had managed to score just 10 in the final seven domestic matches under Rodgers, with four of them coming in a League Cup victory over Partick Thistle.

O’Neill praised the nature of Celtic’s 4-0 win over Kilmarnock on Sunday, but stressed they still have plenty of work to do if they are to defend their title.

“There were some parts of the performance I was absolutely delighted with,” he said. “We defended strongly.

“You do need help when you’re chasing someone, but there’s a long way to go.”

On his own future, O’Neill continued to give nothing away, claiming he does not know if he will be in charge at St Mirren in two weeks’ time.

If victory over Kilmarnock does prove to be the final match of his second spell at the club, he says he will gladly accept that.

“I’ll take a little time in the international break, most of our players will be away, and there will be time of inner reflection,” he said.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a fortnight, I can’t believe it’s really happened.

“I genuinely don’t know [if I’ll be back in two weeks]. If the board make up their mind, it’s absolutely fine by me.”