text: Ronny Deila hailed ultimate impact sub Leigh Griffiths for his hat-trick performance in Celtic’s comeback Premiership win over Kilmarnock. And then Parkhead manager said the striker’s desire to prove him wrong should serve as an example to any player left out of his starting XI. Griffiths took just 19 minutes to score a treble that takes Celtic ever closer to a clean sweep of domestic honours, staking an obvious claim to start in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness at Hampden. Deila, asked if he thought the forward was trying to prove a point, said: ‘It looks like that - and that’s how you’re going to do it. That’s what I expect from the other subs as well. You can be angry but the way to get back into the team is to prove you deserve to play - like Leigh did today. Ronny Deila celebrates after Celtic came from behind to beat Kilmarnock at Parkhead on Wednesday . ‘He was fabulous. You can’t do any better than three goals. His contribution was excellent. And his left foot? He could be a kicker in American football – he’d be very good, I think. ‘He’s improved a lot in my time here. He’s training well and as a 24-hour athlete he’s been getting better and better, even though he eats cakes on the bench sometimes. But it’s just a start – he needs to keep working on small things and he’ll get even more goals. ‘He and John Guidetti played well together today and that’s something to think about when we play with two strikers.’ Asked if Griffiths is now a certain starter for Sunday, Deila said: ‘He played very well today so we’ll see.’ Deila shakes hands with Leigh Griffiths, who collects the match ball after his hat-trick . Celtic came back from the loss of a goal early in the second half to crush Killie, Deila saying: ‘Defensively we were very good for the first 60 minutes, we had the ball all the time and they didn’t have a shot on target. ‘Our attacking play was too slow, too many square passes and we didn’t create anything. We said at the break we needed to take more risk and get behind them. With Leigh coming on we had a lot more movement and we opened them up and got our goals.’ Celtic could now win the title against closest rivals Aberdeen on May 10 – if both teams win all their games beforehand. But Deila hopes his team won’t even need to beat the Dons in their own back yard to be crowned champions. Griffiths completes his hat-trick against Kilmarnock on Wednesday at Parkhead to move eight points clear . Wednesday’s win took Celtic eight points clear with six games remaining. Should both teams win their remaining league games, an away win at Pittodrie would finish the race. Yet Deila said: ‘We could win it before Pittodrie. Hopefully we will. It’s possible – if they lose a game and we win we can do that. ‘We want to win the title as early as possible and today was a very important win and we’re in to a very important week. If you can get into the last five games eight points ahead we have a very good chance. ‘ . The Parkhead side have two Friday night fixtures against Dundee and St Johnstone – and won’t play another game on Saturday at 3pm this season. Substitute Griffiths came off the bench to spark Celtic into life after lacklustre first-half . If Celtic wrap up the league flag they will be presented with the trophy before their final home game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on May 24, the final day of the season. Aberdeen will play St Johnstone in their final game, with the top six completed by a Dundee derby. The final round of bottom six ties could be held on the night of Friday, May 22. The team which finishes 11th will be consigned to a two-leg play-off against the winners of the Championship play-off. With St Mirren 10 points adrift at the foot of the table with just 15 points left to play for, Motherwell will begin their quest to leapfrog Ross County out of the play-off spot with a local Friday night derby against Hamilton. The Fir Park side face Partick Thistle on the final day of the season, while St Mirren face Hamilton.
target: Leigh Griffiths came off the bench to score a hat-trick at Parkhead .
  The striker helped Celtic come from behind to beat Kilmarnock .
  Celtic manager Ronny Deila hailed the substitute for his impact .
  Celtic eight points clear from Aberdeen at top of Scottish Premiership .