Celtic re-claimed top spot in the Scottish Premiership this afternoon after beating St Mirren 3-0 in Paisley.
In what promised to be a tricky away tie at the SMISA stadium, Brendan Rodgers’ team blew St Mirren away in just over 30 first-half minutes saw Celtic storm into a 2-0 lead to allay any fears of a drop in performance with midfield maestro, Matt O’Riley.
The Celtic midfielder is in Brighton to seal his £30m Premier League move and Rodgers’ side proved that whilst O’Riley will be a big loss, there is enough in this Celtic team to cope without him at the moment.
Alistair Johnston added a third midway into the second half to ensure the points headed back to Celtic Park.
So now the dust has settled on the win, here are three things we learned after Celtic thrashed St Mirren.
Celtic’s midfield passes Matt O’Riley test
In Celtic’s first game without Matt O’Riley, Brendan Rodgers went with a midfield trio of Callum McGregor, Paulo Bernardo and Reo Hatate.
The Celtic captain set the tone for the afternoon after his third-minute strike stunned Stephen Robinson’s side.
Paulo Bernardo and Reo Hatate pulled the strings in the midfield and it was Hatate who added Celtic’s second in a first half that Brendan Rodgers’ side absolutely dominated.
Brendan Rodgers praised O’Riley this afternoon for how the midfielder has been handling rumours about his Celtic exit and the Hoops boss must have been concerned at how his team would handle the Dane’s absence.
But Rodgers didn’t have to as his Celtic midfield proved that although he will be heavily missed, there is still life after Matt O’Riley.
Adam Idah’s first Celtic start
All eyes were on Adam Idah as the Republic of Ireland got his first Celtic start since his £9.5m move from Norwich City.
The big striker was a thorn in St Mirren’s side in the first half and his running down both flanks and through the middle caused Stephen Robinson’s side all sorts of problems.
A chance in the first half was spurned as Idah just couldn’t get the power behind his shot to beat St Mirren’s keeper Ellery Balcombe.
Subbed in the 59th minute, Idah’s first Celtic goal since his summer return is yet to come but if the big Irishman continues this current form, that strike won’t be too far off for the 23-year-old.
Celtic’s blistering Scottish Premiership start
For the fourth fixture in a row, Celtic set their stall out taking the early lead against St Mirren and this looks like a feature that is going to continue for Rodgers’ side.
Kilmarnock, Hibs in the league and League Cup and now Stephen Robinson’s team have all felt the force of Celtic’s early attack as Rodgers’ side looks to lay early markers down against their opponents.
The Celtic fans will be hoping that this continues into next weekend when Rangers come calling as putting Philippe Clement’s team to bed early will send out a statement to the title challengers that they still have a bit of work to do to catch the Scottish champions.
But as 3-0 wins go, this was a fairly comfortable afternoon for Celtic and sets up next weekend’s Glasgow Derby against Rangers perfectly.
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