St Mirren were edged out at Celtic Park as a late goal from substitute Hyeongyu Oh gave the hosts the points despite a battling performance from Stephen Robinson's men.
Conor McMenamin's first goal for Saints gave us an early lead in the East End of Glasgow, but David Turnbull levelled for the Hoops 11 minutes later. The Celtic midfielder missed a penalty on the half-hour mark and it looked like the Buddies may have been taking a point back to Paisley thanks to an inspired goalkeeping performance from Zach Hemming. But with only seven minutes of normal time remaining, Oh popped up with a winner for Brendan Rodgers' side.
The manager made three changes to the side that defeated St Johnstone 4-0 on Saturday. Ryan Strain returned from suspension in place of Ryan Flynn, Caolan Boyd-Munce came in for the injured Keanu Baccus and Toyosi Olusanya replaced Mikael Mandron.
The Buddies started brightly and shocked a packed Celtic Park when McMenamin netted his first St Mirren goal. The forward got his head on the end of a beautiful cross from Greg Kiltie who notched up another assist following on his goal and assist against St Johnstone on Saturday.
Conor McMenamin scored his first St Mirren goal to give us an early lead (Image: Allan Picken)
But Celtic equalised 11 minutes later when Turnbull scored on 18 minutes. The midfielder was teed up by O'Riley and, from the edge of the area, he curled into the top right corner to draw the league leaders level.
Celtic were gifted an opportunity to take the lead just before the half hour mark when referee John Beaton awarded the Hoops a penalty for an Alex Gogic handball after a VAR check. Turnbull stepped up to take but crashed his effort off the post. Palma was first on to the rebound, but Zach Hemming got two strong hands to push away.
The Saints goalkeeper made another big stop at the end of the half as he turned behind a sliced clearance from birthday boy Gogic as the sides went into the break level.
Hemming was forced into action 10 minutes into the second-half when he knocked behind a James Forrest effort after patient build-up play from the hosts.
The manager made two changes on 65 minutes as he looked to freshen things up. Goalscorer McMenamin and Olusanya were replaced by Alex Greive and Mikael Mandron. But Celtic were still dominated possession and playing most of the match in Saints' half. Hemming was again forced into another good stop when he pushed away Hyunjun Yang's curling effort from the edge of the area with less than 20 minutes remaining. The Celtic substitute sent another effort just by the post from similar range five minutes later.
Celtic eventually found a way through the Saints rearguard with substitute Hyeongyu Oh scoring with seven minutes of normal time remaining. The forward was slipped in by Odin Thiago Holm and finished with aplomb.
The Buddies went right up the park in search of a leveller and had a good opportunity when the ball fell to Kiltie inside the box, but his effort was blocked. The ball was swung back in where it met the head of Mark O'Hara but it was gathered by Joe Hart. Despite Saints pressure in the final minutes, we couldn't fashion an opportunity for an equaliser as we left Celtic Park empty-handed.
Full-Time: Celtic 2-1 St Mirren
St Mirren: Hemming, Fraser, Gogic, R.Taylor, Strain (Dunne 81), Boyd-Munce (Flynn 88), O'Hara, Tanser, Kiltie (Nahmani 88), Olusanya (Mandron 65), McMenamin (Greive 65)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Bolton, Small, Flynn, Jamieson
Celtic: Hart, Johnston, Phillips, Scales, G.Taylor, McGregor (c), O'Riley (Holm 68), Turnbull (Oh 74), Palma (Maeda 56), Kyogo, Forrest (Yang 56)
Subs Not Used: Bain, Ralston, Nawrocki, Iwata, Bernardo
Referee: John Beaton
Assistant Referee: Graeme Stewart
Assistant Referee: Gordon Crawford
Fourth Official: Stewart Luke
VAR: Nick Walsh
