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Champions Celtic end season 17 points clear at top

Stefan Scepovic scores double on rare start

Leigh Griffiths nets his 20th goal of the season

Stefan Scepovic scored twice as Celtic ended their fourth consecutive season as champions with a comfortable win over Inverness Caley Thistle.

Serbian striker Scepovic put the champions in front and Stefan Johansen scored from Emilio Izaguirre's cross.

Scepovic added his second from six yards on 70 minutes following good work from James Forrest.

Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons came off the bench to score with impressive strikes.

The hosts finished 17 points clear at the top and another clean sheet means Ronny Deila's Celtic side have conceded only 17 league goals all season.

Visiting manager John Hughes was happy to finish the game with no new injuries to his players from a match he said his Scottish Cup final side could have done without.

Every early pass was greeted with cheers of approval, with forgotten man Scepovic getting the party atmosphere going after just five minutes.

Making his eighth start after a £2.3m move last summer, the striker turned the ball in for his fifth goal of a frustrating season.

Carl Tremarco cleared a powerful shot from Virgil van Dijk off the line, with a much-changed Caley Thistle side under plenty of pressure.

Before 20 minutes had elapsed, Scotland's Player of the year Johansen doubled Celtic's advantage.

Izaguire ran down the left and sent over a perfectly-judged cross for Johansen, who swept a shot past Ryan Esson from 10 yards.

With their big day at Hampden to come next Saturday, the visitors were, perhaps understandably, a little tackle-shy and the game started to take on the look of an exhibition.

Leigh Griffiths scored his 20th goal of the season after coming off the bench

But it came back to life momentarily with a reminder of the 'Meekings-gate' controversy.

This time it was Danny Williams who handled in the box to stop a Van Dijk header. Celtic players and fans howled for a penalty but, just like the Josh Meekings handball in the Scottish Cup semi final, the offence was missed by the officials.

Inverness played with a little more belief at the start of the second half but Stuart Armstrong should have put the game beyond reach after Forrest found him inside the box.

But, instead of bursting the net from eight yards, the former Dundee United midfielder fired the ball high over the crossbar.

With 20 minutes remaining Scepovic was at it again, with his second of the match.

Again, Forrest played a key role as he dipped his shoulders to skip past two defenders before sending a tantalising ball across the six-yard line which the Serb side-footed past Esson.

The club's top scorer Griffiths scored his 20th goal of the season just moments after replacing Scepovic - beating the offside trap to sprint forward and expertly fire the ball into the corner.

Commons added Celtic's fifth in the final minute, firing in a powerful shot, and that was the cue for a massive huddle in the Celtic Park stands as the raucous celebrations went up a gear before the trophy presentation.