There is a lot of positivity amongst Celtic fans at the moment. Understandably so, having won away at Ibrox at the weekend to advance to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup, while knocking the Rangers out of the tournament at the same time.

Now, they will face St Mirren in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. When the two teams met at Hampden Park the last time around, Celtic, then being managed by Wilfried Nancy, came out on the losing end. They will want to put that right, and with Martin O'Neill in the dugout, they have a much better chance of doing that.

Before that, they have plenty of other things to worry about. With just nine games left in the league, and Hearts five points ahead, you can consider all of them to be as good as finals for Celtic. There is little to no scope for error. Even being perfect would not be a guarantee of Premiership success.

Celtic's next test in the league will be against Motherwell. Of course, Jens Berthel Askou is believed to be a managerial target of the Hoops, thanks to the job he has done at Fir Park this season. They have the best defence in the league, and are playing a good brand of football to go with it.

It is safe to say that the game will not be a walk in the park for Celtic, despite having home advantage. And it looks like they could be without their captain for the game.

McGregor missed the weekend's derby at Ibrox. Of course, we all know, if there was any chance of him playing, he would have been on that pitch. And it is still unclear when he will be back available.

According to The Scotsman, Celtic look set to be without McGregor for a period of time. He has suffered a recurrence of the calf injury that troubled him last season.

How do you interpret a 'period of time'? Of course, O'Neill's recent comments will not fill the fans with confidence about McGregor's availability for the game against Motherwell. Although it looks like there could be good news when it comes to Kieran Tierney.

O'Neill said of his two experienced players: “I'm hoping that he (Tierney) will be back for next week. Callum, we would just have to have a look."

McGregor might have received a fair bit of criticism this season. But the thing is, Celtic need him in situations like this.

The club captain knows everything there is to know about getting over the finish line in title races. He has done it plenty of times already. And he has that knack for cropping up with important goals as well. Let's hope that his issue turns out to be a minor one and that he is back on the pitch as soon as possible.

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