Will Fish and Matthew Hoppe – scoring on his home debut – grabbed the goals in a commanding performance against the Ayrshire outfit.
The visitors played the final 22 minutes with ten men following a red card for Kyle Vassell ensuring a relatively comfortable ending to the match.
Lee Johnson made three changes to his starting XI for the visit of Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock this afternoon as Joe Newell and Harry McKirdy missed out completely, whilst Lewis Stevenson was only fit enough for a place on the bench.
They were replaced by Marijan Čabraja and Chris Cadden at left and right back respectively whilst Ewan Henderson lined up in midfield.
We have made a habit of starting games brightly and we did so again as we took the game to our opponents from kick-off.
Josh Campbell recently signed a new long-term deal with the club and he showed glimpses of why he is the club’s future with a fine effort from 20 yards that flashed just wide of goal.
We penned the visitors back with Élie Youan going close with a header before Čabraja and Cadden both saw efforts blocked. There were claims a hand had been used in stopping those efforts however, after a quick VAR check, played continued.
The pace and trickery of Aiden McGeady was causing Kilmarnock problems on their right and they resorted to doubling up on the Irishman.
Kilmarnock’s first attack of note came in the 12th minute when Daniel Armstrong played a short corner kick to Jordan Jones and he crossed for Chris Stokes to meet it on the volley at the front post. Thankfully, David Marshall had read the danger and make a wonderful acrobatic save to push it over the crossbar for another corner kick.
Three minutes later and Rory McKenzie created space for a shot that was deflected just wide of Marshall’s far post as the away support found their voice.
They were quickly silenced when Fish outjumped Lewis Mayo to powerfully head McGeady’s corner kick delivery beyond Walker to break the deadlock.
The on-loan Manchester United defender has been in outstanding form recently and met McGeady’s delivery with total conviction to give the goalkeeper no chance.
We very nearly doubled our lead soon after when Youan ran onto a clever backheel from Campbell and went for power over placement with a shot that Walker kept out - the first of many saves for the Kilmarnock 'keeper.
Cadden then flashed a low delivery across the face of the Killie goal - only just beyond Youan following in – as we sought to make our advantage more comfortable.
We were putting McInnes’ men under intense pressure and once more they had Walker to thank for keeping them in the game after he produced a fine save to thwart Henderson on 30 minutes after the midfielder had opened up the defence open with terrific footwork.
Seconds later, Youan weaved a path through the Killie backline and from his cut back, Henderson stabbed it goalward only for Joe Wright to clear it off the line.
Everything appeared to be going in our favour and then, ten minutes before the interval, we suffered a blow as McGeady pulled up whilst racing down the flank and had to be replaced by Hoppe.
We continued our push for a second goal as Henderson fed Cadden the ball on the right of the box, but the full-back’s angled drive was beaten away by Walker.
Killie rang the changes at halftime replacing Stokes, Blair Alston and Jones with Ash Taylor, Liam Polworth and Scott Robinson.
Those changes certainly did not have the desired effect for Kilmarnock as they found themselves trailing by two goals just two minutes after the restart. Stokes's clearance struck Mayo in the face and fell kindly for Hoppe to sweep home for his first goal for the Hibees.
The visitors to their credit kept going and had a good chance when Armstrong got in behind Čabraja before picking out Vassell with a cutback, however, his shot from 16 yards was disappointing and straight at Fish, who cleared.
McKenzie then forced Marshall into a save at his near post but there would be no way back into the game for Kilmarnock.
On 58 minutes Hoppe almost grabbed his second goal of the afternoon with a fine shot from 22 yards that he dragged just wide before Henderson forced Walker into a save from a similar distance soon after.
Killie’s hopes of getting anything from today’s contest were ended on 67 minutes when Vassell was shown a straight red card for serious foul play. He had initially been cautioned for his high boot on Čabraja only for it to be upgraded following a VAR review.
Man of the match Hoppe was denied a second goal with seven minutes remaining when he did well to send Walker the wrong way with a shot, only for the goalkeeper to save with his legs.
The visitors were denied even a consolation effort in the dying moments when substitute Robinson got in behind us, drew Marsh and slipped the ball under him only for CJ Egan-Riley to hook it off the line.
That clearance meant we kept our third clean sheet in four league games, extending our unbeaten run to six matches and moving up to fourth in the cinch Premiership.
Hibernian: Marshall, Cabraja (Miller 83’), Hanlon, Cadden (Jair 83’), Jeggo (Doyle-Hayes 83’), Henderson (Magennis 63’), Youan, Fish, Egan-Riley, Campbell, McGeady (Hoppe 35’). Substitutes not used: Johnson, Stevenson, MacIntyre, O’Connor.
Kilmarnock: Walker, Mayo, Stokes (Taylor 46’), McKenzie, Alston (Polworth 46’), Jones (Robinson 45’), Armstrong (Alebiosu 76’), Lyons (Power 84’), Wright, Vassell, Chambers. Substitutes not used: Hemming, Murray, McInroy, Wales.
Referee: John Beaton.
Attendance: 16,068.
