Matt O’Riley Shines As Ange Postecoglou’s Side Dismantle Struggling Killie

Richmond MarfoApril 16, 2023

0 2 minutes read

Matt O'Riley celebrates after scoring his second goal to give Celtic a 4-0 lead at Kilmarnock

Ruthless Celtic raced into a stunning four-goal lead inside 27 minutes against hapless Kilmarnock, eventually running out 4-1 winners to restore their 12-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Some calamitous defending compounded the home side’s woe, gifting the league leaders an excess of chances, which were gobbled up by Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley during a rampant first period.

Fraser Murray’s ill-fated back pass was pounced on by Kyogo to open the scoring (7), before Maeda doubled the visitors’ advantage with a well-timed header five minutes later.

Kyogo Furuhashi gives Celtic an early lead after a mistake in the Kilmarnock defence.

O’Riley’s superb double, sandwiched between a missed penalty from Kyogo, added gloss to the scoreline before the break, but the contest had run away from Derek McInnes’ struggling side far before the midfielder struck, despite registering a consolation goal of their own when Liam Donnelly showed impressive composure to round Joe Hart (45).

Daizen Maeda added doubles Celtic’s lead with a terrific header.

Celtic are now unbeaten in 24 league matches, notching their 30th victory of the campaign in record time.

As a result, Ange Postecoglou’s side are sauntering towards back-to-back league titles, with nearest rivals Rangers 12 shy of their mammoth 91 points total. “The boys were brave with their football…It was outstanding,” Postecoglou eulogised post-match.

Celtic only need seven points from their remaining six matches to retain their crown.

How Celtic moved step closer to retaining title

Matt O’Riley celebrates after scoring Celtic’s third goal against Kilmarnock

An all-action first 45 minutes saw Celtic score four times, miss a penalty and concede a goal on their way to a sweeping title statement at Rugby Park.

Murray, making his first start in five months, handed Kyogo a seventh-minute opener with a poorly executed back-pass, which was swiftly intercepted and dispatched by the Japan striker for his 23rd goal of the season.

Celtic were two ahead five minutes later when Alistair Johnston dinked a cross towards Maeda to head home at the far post.

Matt O’Riley put Celtic adds a third goal for Celtic to put them 3-0 up inside 18 minutes.

With Killie in disarray, the visitors dealt the killer blow when O’Riley profited from Joe Wright’s mistake, tucking a neat strike inside the post, before being found by a pinpoint Greg Taylor pass and rifling into the far corner.

Kyogo also missed a great chance to add to his mounting goal tally when hitting the post from the penalty spot after Christian Doidge caught Taylor with a sloppy challenge.

Matt O’Riley gets his second goal of the game as Celtic dominate Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

A double change from McInnes midway through a crippling first period stemmed the flow of chances, while Donnelly dispossessed Celtic captain Callum McGregor and beat Joe Hart to reduce arrears on the stroke of half-time, but the damage was done.

Carl Starfelt missed Celtic’s best chance of a much slower, more tepid second 45 minutes when powering a free header aimlessly over from six yards.