Scottish champions Celtic will kick off their pre-season campaign with a friendly match against League of Ireland Premier Division side Shelbourne at Tolka Park in Dublin on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at 6 p.
m.
Manager Martin O'Neill faces limited squad options due to ongoing World Cup commitments, forcing the club to rely on academy graduates and returning fringe players alongside senior figures like Callum McGregor.
The match offers emerging talents such as Joseph Haney and Kyle Ure a chance to secure first-team minutes while the club continues to seek senior reinforcements for the upcoming season.
O'Neill Reflects on Management Challenges
Speaking to club media late last month, O'Neill discussed his continuation at the club and the exhausting nature of management.
"I'm here at least another year, it depends on results like everything else but yeah, it was strange in the sense that if I'd been asked about it a day after we'd done it (the double), I don't think I would have the energy," he said.
The veteran manager explained that he tried to look past his immediate fatigue during the brief summer break to evaluate his true desire to stay.
"I suppose deep down really, if I'm being honest about it, probably think if you felt ok about maybe late July, August or September time and things had moved on without you, then you think, 'oh gosh, maybe I would like to have stayed on' or something I guess."
O'Neill indicated his focus remains on building the squad through pre-season matches while looking to secure new transfers.
"So I tried to project myself a couple of months further forward, as you can see, I don't feel all that fantastic so far.
The holiday that I had lasted about 15 minutes, I think, it feels as if it was like 5 days ago or something since we won.
All of that there will change, we'll get pre-season, try and get a couple of players in to augment the squad, and try and get going."
Highlighting the volatile nature of modern football, O'Neill noted that past achievements provide little job security if current performance drops.
"It's the results business.
I've seen this in the past, it's evidential every single week of the footballing season, that what somebody has done in the past does not count for very much.
For instance, Liverpool would stay with their manager, he'd won the league the previous year and is no longer the manager of the football club.
It can happen and it would be the same here.
You don't get results, it's totally driven by results, but what I would like to try and do this season is, I've said about managing in a different fashion to what I used to do years ago.
I think I can marry the both in many aspects."
The fixture will stream live on CelticPlayer and the Premier Sports Player, with television broadcast handled by Premier Sports Channel 2 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Following the Dublin friendly, Celtic is scheduled to travel to Portugal to face Sporting CP before returning to Glasgow for matches against Middlesbrough on July 18 and AC Milan on July 25.
