Celtic gave manager Martin O'Neill the perfect start to the festive period with a comfortable victory at St Mirren. The Glasgow giants looked hung-over from a Christmas party at times - but even though they were far from their vintage best, they still had enough sparkle for the struggling Paisley side. St Mirren presented Didier Agathe with a huge gift for the opening goal and Celtic raised a toast to Henrik Larsson who wrapped up the points with his 27th goal of the season just after the hour.

O'Neill can now relax at least with his family before the Boxing Day trip to bottom-of-the-table Dundee United safe in knowledge he has a 10-point cushion to increase his comfort. The match itself started at a fierce festive pace and with much Christmas promise with the home side throwing everything at the visitors and flying in for every challenge.

Tom Brown broke the Celtic off-side trap in the eighth minute, but he was unable to out-strip the Celtic defence or pick out one of his St Mirren team-mates and stand-in skipper Johan Mjallby was on hand to clear the danger.

There was little in the way of goal-mouth chances in the opening exchanges as both teams struggled to find a clinical final ball. However, Parkhead's most recent acquisition Ramon Vega went close to netting his third in two games in the 13th minute.

Bobby Petta's short corner, worked with Stilian Petrov, was punched into the path of the Swiss international by St Mirren keeper Ian McCaldon, but the defender fired the chance into the ground and over the bar.

But a minute later, Celtic took the lead which brought the game to life. Petrov found Agathe in the centre of midfielder and as the St Mirren defence stood off, the Frenchman ran straight through the heart of their defence and sent McCaldon the wrong way for his second goal for the Parkhead club.

But despite the early opener, the chances still failed to flow - but St Mirren tried in vain to force the visitors back without troubling goalkeeper Robert Douglas too much.

The home defence looked nervous and lacked composure at times giving the Celtic attack encouragement, but the visitors sat back as the game seemed stuck in the middle of the park.

Celtic, however, were always capable of stepping up a gear and on the half-hour they came close to adding a second. Recent signing Neil Lennon's dangerous cross from the right flashed across the face of goal and Sutton was just unable to get a crucial touch on it that would have ended up in the back of the St Mirren net.

Celtic were starting to impose themselves and on 33 minutes they carved out a great chance when Agathe stripped Brown for pace before picking out Alan Thompson, in acres of space in the box, but he drove over the bar.

Agathe dispossessed Brown in the 38th minute to set-up a three against two situation, but Petta had strayed offside and the chance went begging. And St Mirren midfielder Ricky Gillies did well on the stroke of half-time to prevent Thompson from getting a shot on target after Lennon had found him in the area.

The St Mirren defence were all at sea again just two minutes after the restart and they were lucky to survive.
Petrov's centre was cleared as far as Joos Valgaeren and the Belgian fired on target which took a deflection off Vega, but Barry McLaughlin was on hand to clear off the goal-line.

The temperature of the game increased substantially as tackles from both sides went flying in and Gillies and Scott Walker were shown yellow cards along with Petrov and Petta for Celtic.

The space opened up again for Agathe in the 53rd minute as he had time to pick out one of his team-mates, but McLaughlin again made a desperate tackle to deny him.

Celtic poured forward in numbers four minutes later as Larsson laid the ball off to Lennon in space on the right, but the midfielder drove his shot into the side-netting.
McLaughlin again proved to be the St Mirren hero in the 58th minute when he stood up to Petta bearing down on goal and he deflected the Celtic man's effort wide.

But the writing was on the wall for the home side and in the 62nd minute they doubled their lead to all but kill off the game. Sutton found Petrov in the box and he dragged the ball back for Larsson to comfortably stroke the ball home.

Petrov was looking to get in on the act in the 71st minute after Larsson had laid the ball into his path, but McCaldon did well to get down and push his fierce strike away.

Larsson then turned provider in the 81st minute for Sutton in the box, but McCaldon again pushed his effort away. In the final moments, Sutton and Lennon both fired wide from central positions, but the points were already secure for the Parkhead outfit.

St Mirren manager Tom Hendrie can point to injuries and sickness as a factor behind his side's current plight - but very little is going wrong for his counterpart O'Neill which bodes well for an enjoyable Christmas.