Celtic v Hearts

Celtic 5

Hooper 5′, 8′, 39′ (pen), 66′, 87′

Hearts 0

FT 90 +2
HT 3-0

Highlights - Celtic 5-0 Hearts

By Colin Moffat BBC Scotland

Gary Hooper ensured Celtic's championship party went with a bang as he netted five goals against Hearts.

Hooper tucked away two close-range finishes in the opening eight minutes and added a penalty when Joe Ledley was clipped by Arvydas Novikovas.

Celtic continued to dominate after the interval and Hooper rounded keeper Jamie MacDonald to score on 66 minutes.

With three minutes remaining, Hooper was in the right place again to complete the scoring.

It was the perfect way to prepare for the Scottish Premier League trophy presentation, with Celtic having wrapped up the title five weeks ago.

With one eye on next weekend's Scottish Cup final, Hearts made seven changes to their starting XI.

But manager Paulo Sergio selected his first-choice defence and will be worried at how easily they were torn apart by a rampant Celtic in the early stages.

A Kris Commons drive was spilled by Jamie MacDonald and Hooper was first to react to knock the ball into the net.

Soon after, Georgios Samaras weaved his way forward and sped past Hearts skipper Marius Zaliukas to set up Hooper for a second easy tap-in.

With Hearts wobbling, MacDonald had to look lively to parry a Charlie Mulgrew free-kick from 25 yards.

The early tempo dipped but Celtic retained in complete control, knocking the ball around with confidence.

And Hooper completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after 39 minutes when he drilled the ball down the middle from the spot after Novikovas had caught the heels of Ledley.

Early in the second half, Commons delivered a fantastic free-kick to the back post area, only to see Samaras inexplicably duck under the ball when it looked like a certain headed goal.

On the hour, a mistake by Glenn Loovens allowed David Templeton in for Hearts's only attempt on goal but the winger's curled shot slipped a couple of feet wide.

The fourth goal came following more good work from the impressive Commons.

A stretching Zaliukas could not cut out a raking pass from the Scotland midfielder, allowing Hooper to pick up the scraps, run around an exposed MacDonald.

Immediately after the goal Beram Kayal got a warm ovation when he came on for Celtic skipper Scott Brown, the Israel midfielder making his first appearance since December after recovering from an ankle injury.

Hooper looked determined not to allow anyone else a taste of glory when he got in the way of a Mulgrew shot.

And the English striker completed a memorable day when he knocked in his 29th goal of the season, converting a clever cross from Samaras.

Lineup, Bookings (3) & Substitutions (6)

Celtic

01 Forster
03 Izaguirre
21 Mulgrew
22 Loovens
02 Matthews
08 Brown Booked (Kayal - 67' )
16 Ledley (McCourt - 69' )
67 Wanyama
09 Samaras
15 Commons (Stokes - 81' )
88 Hooper

Substitutes

24 Zaluska
11 Cha Du-Ri
23 Lustig
56 Twardzik
20 McCourt
33 Kayal
10 Stokes

Heart of Midlothian

30 MacDonald
03 Grainger Booked
06 Webster (Barr - 83' )
17 McGowan
26 Zaliukas
12 Templeton
21 Taouil Booked (Prychynenko - 25' )
31 Mrowiec
18 Novikovas (Holt - 46' )
23 Glen
27 Robinson

Substitutes

28 Ridgers
05 Barr
07 Santana
11 Driver
19 Skacel
35 Prychynenko
42 Holt

Ref: Muir

Att: 58,875

Match Stats

Possession 59 41

Shots

12 3

On target

8 2

Corners

4 2

Fouls

15 15

Live Text Commentary

90:00 +1:08 Full time

Full Time The game is over, as the referee blows his whistle.

90:00 +0:53

Foul by Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic) on Scott Robinson (Hearts).