IT'S not how often you are knocked down, it is how often you get back up that defines real champions.

That's as true in football as it is in boxing as, indeed, it is in life.

So, while Celtic manager Ronny Deila and his players are still licking their wounds after taking a sore one to the solar plexus in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final against underdogs Inverness Caley Thistle, the Norwegian is anxious they do so in a vertical, not prone, position.

He wants confirmation they have got on the front foot again when they play Dundee tomorrow night.

Celtic are currently five points clear of nearest challengers, Aberdeen, on the scorecard and heading for a points victory.

At Dens Park, when they draw level with the Dons again in terms of matches played, they can move that to eight, with the same number of points then required to make the championship theirs once again.

"That is the goal," confirmed Deila as he picked himself up off the floor after seeing his Treble yell silenced. "The league is the most important thing. So we know what we are fighting for, and we will be up for it again tomorrow.

"I have no concerns about the players bouncing back because I know their character.

"They should have been disappointed after the semi-final. But we used Sunday for that, and yesterday we had to be back on track again and prepare for tomorrow."

There has been no need for smelling salts to revive Scott Brown and Co., though they did have the wind taken from them by the manner of the extra-time defeat to Caley Thistle.

Indeed, many are still reeling from the non-decision by the officials well inside the ropes when Josh Meekings used an illegal blow to prevent Leigh Griffiths from heading the Hoops 2-0 ahead just a couple of minutes before the bell to end the first half.

However, to dwell on this point alone would be to ignore the full story of the fight.

Having got to grips with Caley Thistle's tricky tactics, Celtic were already ahead, and still had their full complement of players.

But from this strong position, they failed to finish off their opponent. More than that, they contrived to allow the Highlanders back into the contest from a corner taken by Kris Commons.

As has happened so often this season, a flag-kick taken on the left side of the field was fired into the near post.

Most opposition players - and certainly coaches - know this is what is likely to be the play, and defend it accordingly.

On this occasion, Inverness's Ryan Christie quickly turned defence into attack.

With Emilio Izaguirre caught in no-man's land as the ball came out of the box, and Adam Matthews proving unable to hold off Marley Watkins sufficiently to get a decent pass back to Craig Gordon, the keeper lost out in the race with the Inverness player who was brought down after he poked his shot beyond him.

Even at that, the game should not have been up.

But was the decision to sacrifice James Forrest to allow Lukasz Zaluska to take over in goal the real killer blow which Celtic delivered to themselves?

The wide player always tends to be the fall guy in such situations.

However, Forrest had already proved he could drive at Inverness and eliminate men. David Raven had resorted to a late kick on a shin to try and slow down Forrest, as the full-back had been so engrossed in trying to keep him at bay that he had scarcely managed to venture upfield.

How ironic, therefore, that it was Raven who stole forward four minutes from the end of extra time to get on the end of Graeme Shinnie's driven cross and score the goal that ended Celtic's Treble dream.

Given how little Commons had influenced the game to the point when Gordon was sent off, and how little impact he made from then on, he would have been a better option for removal than Forrest, whose tracking back and pace on the turnover would also have been assets Celtic would have appreciated as the game got stretched along with the lungs of their 10 men.

A similar scenario occurred in the San Siro when Virgil van Dijk was red-carded against Inter Milan and Gary Mackay-Steven was the attacking player sacrificed to allow Efe Ambrose to come on.

It was not the only big call made by Deila at Hampden which might be cause for reflection by the man who always analyses to the nth degree every aspect of every game, but with forensic intensity when it is one Celtic have lost.

Needing a goal to draw level again in extra time, he put on Guidetti, but removed Griffiths rather than ask them to operate as an attacking pair.

Deila made the same switch at Inverness a week earlier when again needing to score, and admitted after that draw he should perhaps have gone with two up.

It had worked so well when Griffiths came on to join Guidetti as Kilmarnock were holding the league leaders to a draw at Parkhead last midweek, the former Hibs man lighting up the night with a quick hat-trick.

Yes, down to 10 men, it would have left the Hoops short of bodies at the back on Sunday.

But trailing and with the Treble on the line, it was a gamble on which many Celtic fans would have been happy to see their manager take a punt.

Instead, when the players got into their huddle before the start of extra time, it was Deila, not Griffiths, who was in there with them. Even in a season of so many firsts from the Norwegian, with the Ronny Roar, fist pumps, etc, this was something different.

But, Deila explained, it was simply for practical reasons, and explained: "I got into the huddle with the players because it was hard to speak to them.

"We had small injuries and other things, so we tried to get together and make everything as good as it could be going into extra time."

As the record books show, even this was not enough to prevent Caley Thistle having the final word. They have now beaten Celtic twice this season and drawn another league game.

So are they Deila's bogey team? He insists they are not.

"They are a good team and they deserve to be in the final, if any team other than us should be there," said the Hoops boss.

"They play good football, and I hope they keep on winning.

"Hopefully, when we do play them again (on the last day of the league season) they will see us lifting the league trophy. That is the goal for us."