The hosts proved to be too strong for us on the night as they scored twice through Oh Hyeon-gyu either side of a Matt O’Riley header before Luis Palma converted a penalty kick for his side’s fourth.
They would have scored even more had it not been for David Marshall making several excellent saves to thwart his old team.
We had chances with Elie Youan and Jair Tavares going close in the first half. After the break Youan struck the post and substitute Christian Doidge pulled one back, however Celtic merited their convincing win.
Nick Montgomery made two changes from the side that defeated Aberdeen three days prior.
Lewis Miller returned on the right side of our back four, whilst Youan partnered Martin Boyle – making his 300th
appearance - in attack.Rory Whittaker and Dylan Vente dropped to the bench.
Hibs haven’t won at Celtic Park in almost 14 years, and we made a difficult task even tougher by conceding early on.
Just four minutes had been played when Palma’s corner kick was knocked towards goal by Cameron Carter-Vickers and Oh flicked it past Marshall just in front of the ‘keeper.
The hosts attempted to build on their bright start and went close in the moments that followed when Oh headed wide at the near post.
On 20 minutes, Alastair Johnston’s terrific delivery from the right was whipped in beyond Rocky Bushiri for Oh sliding in - however the South Korean forward landed on the ball, robbing it of all forward momentum and that allowed Marshall to gather easily.
Celtic were dominating and Palma, in particular, was in a menacing mood. On 26 minutes, he was desperately unlucky not to score when he stepped away from Miller, turned Will Fish and knocked the ball through the legs of Marshall, only for Rocky to clear off the line.
Ten minutes later, O’Riley did brilliantly to lose Dylan Levitt and run across the face of Rocky to meet Palma’s cross before heading it beyond Marshall to double his team’s lead.
Hibs had a great chance to get back into the match when Joe Newell’s floated delivery found Youan’s run in behind Liam Scales - however the Frenchman couldn’t fire his shot beyond Joe Hart who had raced from his goal to save.
Four minutes before half-time and indecision in our box was nearly punished. Palma’s cross reached the back post where Lewis Stevenson and Jair left it for one another and Johnstone nipped in to prod it towards goal. Thankfully, Marshall was alert to the danger and saved their blushes.
The hosts went close again just seconds later when Carter-Vickers connected with Palma’s corner kick delivery, and it took a combination of a Marshall fingertips save and Newell’s clearance to keep him out. In the dying embers, the Hibees had another big chance when Josh Campbell played Jair in behind only for Scales to close him down and divert his shot wide of goal.
It was a frustrating first period of almost constant Celtic pressure as the league leaders moved the ball around too quickly for us and continually broke our lines which gave no respite to an overstretched defence.
Celtic started the second half with the same high intensity they had shown during the first and went immediately onto the attack with Miller almost heading into his own net from O’Riley’s cross had it not been for a wonderful save by Marshall.
With the ball now dead, a VAR review spotted Stevenson had caught the trailing leg of Johnstone during the build-up and referee John Beaton awarded Celtic a penalty kick, which Palma duly dispatched.
We looked to respond quickly and very nearly did so when Youan ran onto Newell’s threaded pass and his net-bound strike was deflected onto Hart’s front post.
It was a crucial deflection as Celtic put the game to bed just moments later when Oh shrugged off Fish before firing low past Marshall to score his second of the evening and his side’s fourth.
With 19 minutes remaining, we notched a consolation effort when substitute Doidge converted from close range following a fine run and cross from Youan.
The goal did little to change the pattern of play with Celtic going close to a fifth when Palma’s stunning 30-yard free kick was acrobatically kept out by an equally impressive stop from Marshall.
Five additional minutes were played, and the hosts wasted two glorious opportunities to extend their advantage.
First, Johnston’s deep cross from the right found Kyogo Furuhashi goal side of Fish but with only the goalkeeper to beat he volleyed well off target.
Then, with the last attack of the game, the ball fell to another substitute in Tomoki Iwata who had the goal at his mercy, and with Marshall grounded, he somehow fired into the side netting.
Celtic: Hart, A. Johnston, Carter-Vicker, Scales, Taylor (Ralston 57’), Iwata, McGregor (Bernardo 81’), O’Riley, M. Johnston (Toilio 62’), Palma, Oh (Kyogo 62’). Substitutes not used: Bain, Phillips, Turnbull, Holm, Forrest.
Hibernian: Marshall, Miller, Fish, Rocky (Hanlon 67’), Stevenson, Levitt (Jeggo 57’), Newell, Campbell (Molotnikov 67’), Jair (Whittaker 82’), Boyle (Doidge 57’), Youan. Substitutes not used: Wollacott, Vente, Harbottle, Landers.
Referee: John Beaton.
