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 .
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 Deila at top of Scottish Premiership .