Neil Lennon tells Dominic Fifield that the title will be of little consolation if his side lose today

Neil Lennon should have been basking in the glory of a year of unbridled domestic dominance. Instead, his Lurgan drawl betrayed the reticence of a man with much still to do. "The highs here are very high, but the lows..." he grimaced. "We ran away with the title, but it'll still be a long summer if we lose to them."

Celtic fans crammed into Hampden Park will share their midfielder's reluctance to contemplate the unthinkable as the Old Firm go head-to-head for the Scottish Cup this afternoon. With Lennon's powerful presence driving midfield, Celtic have rattled up a century of league points to leave Rangers trailing by a catastrophic 16, but the definition of a successful season still rests on today's match.

"The whole football experience in Scotland is a throw-back to the way things used to be," said the 30-year-old, who followed Martin O'Neill from Leicester to Parkhead for £5.75 million last season to play for the club he supported as a boy. "You go out in the derby and are hit by this wall of noise. When you play at Ibrox you take heart from the 7,000-odd Celtic fans singing their hearts out. Even if we're losing, they're desperate not to let the other side know they are hurting.

"Celtic against Rangers isn't just about Glasgow. It's special, a nationwide fanaticism, back page and front page weeks before the game, and driven by pure love but also pure hate. And, because of my background, a lot is aimed at me."

Lennon, a Catholic, was always likely to run the gauntlet of the vocal majority at Ibrox derbies, but also the bigoted minority back home. After signing for Celtic, Loyalists daubed graffiti depicting a hangman's noose and the words "Neil Lennon RIP" on a wall in Lisburn. As the midfielder ran out to gain his 36th Northern Ireland cap, against Norway at Windsor Park 14 months ago, the boos duly rang out. The visitors ran out 4-0 winners, while Lennon did not reappear after half-time.

" I'd never experienced that before playing for my country, but I half expected it. I wasn't anticipating a standing ovation, let's say. It was just a minority and you have to understand where they're coming from. It's not who I am, but what I represent as far as they're concerned.

"It wasn't simply a case of me going back and sticking one up at the dissenters; it was taking away the enjoyment of playing. Things have improved since then, but with the Old Firm it's another ingredient to the match. I like that intensity.

"To be an Irishman playing for this club is a special privilege, but while it's good being a Celtic player, you have to be a winning Celtic player." Not that Lennon has been anything else since arriving in Glasgow.

Indeed, with his former Leicester stalwart adding bite and muscular presence to midfield, O'Neill has shifted the balance of power in Scotland with his team sweeping all-comers to claim the treble last term. That momentum was maintained this year to the tune of a solitary domestic defeat, at Aberdeen.

"I enjoyed winning the league this year more than last year because the honeymoon period was over," he said. "This season was a real test for us, but I think we've got even better.

"I miss certain aspects of the Premiership and I know the standard gets frowned upon down south, but I think this Celtic team would win the Premiership. I played in that league for four years so I know what I'm talking about. We have a few world-class players in our team, but we're under a different type of pressure. Everyone expects you to win every game, so there's no room for complacency. That's why the manager has to be so motivated."

Motivation should not be a problem today. Celtic hve yet to beat a Rangers side managed by Alex McLeish. "That's something we'd like to put right," added Lennon. "This has been the most fulfilling part of my career, but if we lose this game it'll be a national disaster."