St Johnstone were comfortably beaten by a return-to-form Celtic team on a day the battle to avoid the relegation play-off took a turn for the worse.
With Ross County and Aberdeen both winning, Saints dropped back to 10th place and now have just a one-point cushion over the Staggies.
It was a pretty one-sided contest in Glasgow.
The fact that Saints didn’t concede until the 40th minute raised hopes that this might be a repeat of the early-season 0-0 here.
But from the moment Kyogo put the champions in front, there was little doubt about the eventual outcome.
That Connor Smith scored late on and Saints’ goal difference didn’t take a hammering was a positive of sorts.
Matches against the Old Firm are now out of the way and Saints’ battle to stay up will be won or lost against more realistically beatable opponents.
Craig Levein had switched to a back four in his previous two team selections but he reverted to three central defenders for this fixture.
As almost always quickly becomes the case at Parkhead, the contest settled into one primarily of attack v defence.
For all Celtic’s dominance of territory and possession, though, Saints did a decent job of making sure Dimitar Mitov didn’t have a save to make in the early stages.
The closest thing was a diagonal ball to the back post aimed at Nicolas Kuhn, which Luke Robinson was alert to.
At the other end, for a moment it looked as if Adama Sidibeh might have been able to run beyond Cameron Carter-Vickers but the centre-back blocked the Perth striker’s shot outside the box.
Change in tempo
From the midway point of the first half, Celtic started to turn up the heat and twice Robinson blocked shots from off, or close to, the line.
The first one was put through the VAR microscope but the wing-back’s arm was correctly deemed to be by his side when the goal-bound shot struck it.
Saints couldn’t hold out until half-time, however, with Kyogo heading home from close range on 40 minutes.
And it was effectively game over 45 seconds after the restart when Kuhn had a simple finish at the back post from Kyogo’s square ball.
On 52 minutes, Mitov was rooted to the spot as Celtic’s main man smashed the crossbar with a sweetly struck shot.
James Forrest made it 3-0 when Saints coughed up the ball, then allowed the substitute the freedom of Celtic Park.
Connor Smith, on for Matt Smith, scored a consolation goal on 81 minutes after Joe Hart had kept out a Stevie May header.
Players ratings
Mitov 7, Considine 6, McGowan 5.5, Gordon 6.5, Carey 5.5 (May, 74), Sidibeh 5 (Kimpioka, 64), Robinson 6 (Gallacher, 64), M Smith 5.5 (C Smith, 74), Sprangler 5 (Kucheriavyi, 25), Keltjens 6.5, Phillips 5.5. Subs not used – Richards, Clark, Franczak.
Conversation