Martin O'Neill (left) was leaping for joy at Celtic Park

Celtic, after their 6-2 mauling of Dundee, now have a two-goal advantage over Rangers, who now must beat Hearts on Sunday by more than one goal to regain the lead.

Mair's strike put a slight dampener on the post-match celebrations as O'Neill and his players took a bow in front of their last home crowd of the season before heading for the Uefa Cup final in Seville.

But the Celtic manager said: "The late goal was disappointing. But, if you had said before the game, I would have taken that score.

"It was an absolutely fabulous performance.

Hopefully it gives them a kick up the backside Dundee boss Jim Duffy

"I thought the players were immense tonight.

"There was no talk about Seville and there was nothing tentative about them."

Both Alan Thompson and Shaun Maloney scored twice and were praised by O'Neill.

"I thought Alan Thompson's whole performance, from start to finish, was sensational," said the manager.

Skilful but diminutive Scotland Under-21 international Maloney was only in the side because of Chris Sutton's suspension and an injury to John Hartson.

Celtic sweep back to the top

But O'Neill suggested that it was another performance that proved that "he has a big future ahead of him".

Thompson admitted that the Mair goal was disappointing but said that simply getting three points had been Celtic's priority.

"We can now look forward to facing Porto in Seville," he said.

"It is going to be massive."

Alan Thompson scored twice for Celtic against Dundee

Dundee had moved the fixture forward from the weekend in order to help Celtic prepare for Wednesday's final.

Dens Park manager Jim Duffy had insisted that his side would not show similar charity on the park, even though he suggested that he would rest players if it would improve their chances of playing in the Scottish Cup final.

The experiment of using Zurab Khizanishvili in central midfield backfired as his usual defensive colleagues put in a dismal performance.

Duffy admitted: "If you defend badly against anyone, and especially Celtic and Rangers, you will be punished.

"Hopefully it gives them a kick up the backside for the cup final, but we will see on 31 May."