NEIL Lennon described Celtic’s 5-0 victory over St Mirren as an emphatic win and showered Leigh Griffiths with praise for his impressive hat-trick.

Celtic extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 16 points with an assured performance over St Mirren at Paradise.

Neil Lennon was pleased with how his team played and the work ethic they showed just three days after a hard fought game against Livingston.

“I’m delighted,” said the manager. “It was an emphatic win and a clean sheet off the back of a hard game on Wednesday. It could have been a tricky one but we dealt with it well.

“I’m pleased for Odsonne getting his goal as well and we could have had a few more. There was a good work ethic form us on and off the ball and I couldn’t have asked any more of the side today.”

Griffiths was the star of the show today with his trio of goals securing his first hat-trick since the 2015/16 season when he racked up an incredible 40 goals.

Neil Lennon was elated with Griffiths’ performance and said the 29-year-old was looking back to his old self.

“I’m delighted for Leigh, he looked more like his old self,” said the Celtic manager. “The third goal his Leigh Griffiths, a quick turn and smashes it in the corner. We’ve not seen that from him in a while. The second goal was brilliantly worked and the first goal gave him a lot of confidence so he can be really happy with his day’s work.

“It’ll give him a huge lift. Now he knows he can still do it and we all knew he could.

“He’s answered all his critics. People were saying he was finished here but that was never the case with him. My backroom team worked with him and the fitness coaches worked with him so he owes the club a lot and with performances like that he’s starting to repay it.”

Neil Lennon delighted for super Leigh as Celts crush St Mirren