GARY MACKAY-STEVEN was the star of the show as Celtic began their build-up to a vitally important Champions League campaign with an easy and impressive 2-0 win over Den Bosch of the Netherlands.

The midfielder played as if this were a cup final, rather than the first friendly game of three before the season begins for real against FC Stjarnan on July 15, and he was far from the only one who impressed on an unusually balmy night in Paisley.

Thomas Rogic, someone who had just about disappeared off the radar completely, also stood out, while new boy Dedryck Boyata rather strolled through his first appearance in the Hoops.

Very little can actually be properly gauged from such games, in all honesty, both good and bad, but the fact everyone treated the game seriously and was played at a decent pace would have encouraged the manager, Ronny Deila, and the few thousand supporters inside St Mirren Park.

Before the match, new signing Saidy Janko was escorted into the ground by John Collins and John Kennedy after agreeing a four-year deal with the club, subject to a medical which will take place on Thursday.

It will be interesting to see whether the two right-backs already at the club, Mikael Lustig and Adam Matthews, both stay now that the 19-year-old has arrived. The Swede was captain on a night when none of those who had been away on international duty were involved.

So to the game and, as friendlies which take place on July 1 go, this wasn’t too bad.

Celtic knocked the ball about well and, while the opposition wasn’t great, there would have been little about this performance Deila would not have approved of, except for Stuart Armstrong having to come off in the first half with a dead leg.

Within four minutes of the start, Celtic were ahead.

It would have boded well for Deila to watch Armstrong and Mackay-Steven combine well so early on.

The former threaded a great pass to his pal, whose first touch took him around the keeper, Kees Heemskerk, and he then had a simple task to score.

While that was going on, Virgil van Dijk was on his back and holding an ankle – which was not on the script. Thankfully for Celtic, the Dutchman was fine and coasted this.

Den Bosch actually should have got an equaliser on eight minutes when, from a corner, Orlando Smeekes blasted his shot over from 10 yards. That was it from them.

Mackay-Steven certainly enjoyed himself. In the space of a few minutes he dribbled his way past a couple of defenders on the right hand side before running out of space.

Another who impressed was Rogic, who from the start looked in good nick after missing the whole of last season. If he could get himself fit and right then it would help Deila no end because the lad has talent. There was a lovely pirouette at one point which got a cheer all on its own.

Celtic came close to a second on 20 minutes. It was another fine move full of quick passing and clever movement. The ball switched from right to left through Mackay-Steven and Armstrong, who passed into the path of Kieran Tierney, whose fierce shot was well kept out by Heemskerk.

Van Dijk went close with a free-kick and then, on 23 minutes, more good play involving Mackay-Steven set up a chance for Stefan Scepovic. They played a neat one-two with one another, and the Serb was denied a much-needed goal by another decent stop from the Dutch goalkeeper.

But the brave Heemskerk was then beaten two minutes later.

Mackay-Steven, would you believe, was at the centre of things again as he tormented the poor left-back Jordy van der Winden. His shot was saved by the keeper, but the ball came back off defender Kadeem Pantophlet and rolled into the net.

Winden was not a happy man and picked up a deserved booking for hacking down Mackay-Steven, who had beaten him for the umpteenth time.

On 28 minutes, the hard-working Stefan Scepovic forced a save from Heemskerk and then Luke Donnelly was sent through on goal by Mackay-Steven, who could do no wrong. He chipped the keeper, but the ball was cleared off the line.

Then, on 33 minutes, Armstrong curled in a corner which was met by Lustig, whose header crashed back off the crossbar.

There was a slight concern before half-time when Armstrong signalled to the bench that he had a problem, and he was replaced by young Paul McMullan, as was Lustig for Darnell Fisher.

As is the way of these games, there were more changes in the second half – Deila made eight at one point when a lot of the Development Squad got half an hour – and the pace understandably dropped a little.

In fact, there was little that happened in terms of chances in the second half, although the fact so many young players got at least a chance was a bonus.

The average age of the team that ended the game may have been the youngest in Celtic history!