Celtic's hunt for a fifth straight Scottish Premiership title started with a bang as they beat Ross County 2-0 at Celtic Park this afternoon.

The defending champions made a fast start and took the lead after just four minutes when striker Leigh Griffiths was brought down in the box by County captain Andrew Davies, and he stepped up to lash home the resulting penalty.

The home side were on top throughout the opening period, and almost made it 2-0 10 minutes later when James Forrest ran through the County defence, only to be denied by goalkeeper Scott Fox.

Ross County created little going forward, although they caused chaos in the Celtic defence when a long ball over the top brought goalkeeper Craig Gordon off his line.

The Scotsman fouled Jackson Irvine on the edge of the box and was awarded a yellow card.

Gary Mackay-Steven then forced Fox into a smart save from close range, but the keeper could not prevent Stefan Johansen from doubling Celtic's lead in the 35th minute.

Mackay-Steven ran at the defence with plenty of pace before squaring the ball for the Norwegian, who took one touch in the box before slamming it into the bottom corner.

County pushed hard to pull a goal back after the break, and only a smart save from Gordon denied Craig Curran from close range before he was then forced to claw away Raffaele de Vita's fierce strike.

Celtic almost wrapped the game up in the 70th minute, but Fox tipped Kris Common's blistering strike over the bar.

Stuart Armstrong also went close to a third with an effort which deflected marginally wide, before Mackay-Stevens's dangerous cross was hacked away in the six-yard box.

Both sides continued to push, but the game drifted to its conclusion.