Martin O'Neill could be an interested spectator if Celtic and Dundalk are paired together this morning.

The League of Ireland side are one of five teams Celtic could come up against - Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets Razgrad, FC Copenhagen and Hapoel Beer Sheva are the others they could get - and former Hoops boss O'Neill was cheering Dundalk on as they guaranteed themselves European football in one form or another on Tuesday evening.

“Martin was in the dressing room after the game, he has followed our progress," said Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny.

“We beat Hajduk Split away two years ago, we won 2-1 over there and he attended the home game. He sent me a message before the game and he was in the changing room afterwards passing on his compliments. Martin is fantastic, he is someone we really respect.”

Should the teams be paired together - something Kenny would rather avoid - the game would likely be played in the Aviva stadium in Dublin, with Oriel Park too small to meet UEFA criteria.

“We could face Celtic," said Kenny. "There are a number of clubs we could meet but from our point of view we want to meet the team that would give us the greatest chance of progressing to the Champions League, that’s the way we would view it.

“We’re not really interested in Celtic, it would be a glamour tie but we want the best opportunity to progress to the group stages. That’s our ambition.

“I’m not saying we don’t want Celtic. Now we’re in the fourth round of the Champions League we have to really focus to try and get there.

“We’ve come from nowhere, from the bottom of the Premier League to winning the league back to back and now we’re in the Europa League group stages minimum."