Celtic effectively sealed a fifth successive title with a 3-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle. With three league games remaining and a nine-point lead over Aberdeen - who play later this afternoon - Celtic's vastly superior goal difference of 38 means they cannot be caught.

Colin Kazim Richards had got Celtic off to the ideal start when he opened the scoring after just 16 minutes. However, that was cancelled out by Abiola Dauda just before the hour mark before Patrick Roberts and, inevitably, Leigh Griffiths gave Celtic all three points and put a gloss on the scoreline.

It has not been the prettiest of campaigns for the Parkhead club who will part company with Ronny Deila at the end of the season but they enjoyed their moment in the sunshine at Tynecastle this afternoon.

Celtic ought to have taken the lead when Callum McGregor had the ball in the net, only for the midfielder to be denied by what was later shown to be a rogue offside call.

Patrick Roberts had cut in and seen his shot rebounded from Neil Alexander’s save only for McGregor to come from behind Juwon Oshaniwa, nick the ball and round the Hearts keeper before prodding it into the net.

The decision to disallow it infuriated the Celtic bench to the extent that John Collins was still berating the fourth official minutes later when Leigh Griffiths drew a fingertip save from Alexander with a looping drive.

In any case, it was a stay of execution for Hearts with Celtic opening the scoring shortly afterwards.

Colin Kazim Richards has had a shocking time at the club since his January arrival but he took his moment of glory at Tynecastle with a fine finish to execute what was an impressive build-up to the goal.

Griffiths had supplied McGregor, he had fed Lustig and the Swede’s ball into the back post was chested down by the forward before he them flicked it into the net at close range.

As the tempo and intensity of the game increased, Prince Buaben could consider himself fortunate to stay on the park after he appeared to throw an elbow into Scott Brown. He received a booking for the incident but it could have been a graver consequence.

Within minutes, though, Craig Gordon had to be alert to keep the Parkhead side in front. The former Hearts stopper produced a good double stop to deny Jamie Walker and then Juanma, although the later had already been flagged for offside.

Celtifc had a decent shout for handball shooed away too by referee Alan Muir – another shout which irked the Hoops bench.

Griffiths ought to have made life a little more comfortable for Celtic when he showed an exquisite first-touch to cushion a long rebound from Nir Bitton and hare his way forward on the break. With just Alexander to beat, Griffiths seemed caught in two minds whether to take the shot or take it round the keeper and instead sclaffed his attempt.

Hearts made two changes at the interval with loan signing Abiola Duada and Callum Paterson coming on and the changes gave Hearts a far greater foothold in the game.

Gordon produced a great save after the break to deny Arnaud Djoum but shortly before the hour mark, Hearts were back on level terms. Substitute Duada collected a pass from Walker – who had dispossessed Brown in the middle of the park before embarking on a solo run before drilling his shot low into the net past Gordon.

Kazim-Richards was then in the eye of a storm which appeared out of nothing after Oshaniwa indulged in some theatrics.

Just as Hearts, though, had Celtic unnerved, they gifted their visitors the easiest of goals. Ozturk played the ball to Perry Kitchen who weakly headed back towards John Souttar. However, the ball was intercepted by Roberts who nicked in and brushed off the toe Souttar got to the ball before advancing forward and slipping the ball through the legs of Alexander.

Griffiths and Souttar then went into the book when they clashed - with the Hoops striker fortunate to stay on the pitch after he appeared to aim a kick at the Hearts defender. In any case, it was Griffiths who had the last laugh when he nutmegged Souttar before scoring a fine solo effort to set the gloss on a decent day at the office for Deila's men.

HEARTS: Alexander; Souttar, Ozturk, Augustyn (Paterson 46), Oshaniwa; Cowie (Dauda 46), Kitchen, Buaben (Nicholson 76), Djoum; Walker; Juanma. Subs: Hamilton, Pallardo, Reilly, McGhee.

CELTIC: Gordon; Lustig, Ambrose, Sviatchenko, Tierney; Roberts (Rogic 69) Brown, Bitton, Brown (Commons 90), McGregor; Kazim-Richards, Griffiths (Armstrong 87) Subs: Bailly, Izaguirre, Armstrong, Christie, Janko.

REFEREE: Alan Muir